“We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” — C.S. Lewis
I remember the training I received under a drill instructor at the time of the Vietnam War. They (for there were more than one) were preparing us for war, for death, for saving lives, and for dying for our brothers, if necessary. I must admit that–regardless of the rhetoric that you hear from non-soldiers–the focus was more on your brother soldiers than it was on defending your country or on the need to oppose Communism. No, the focus was on faithfulness, honor, obedience, loyalty, and your brother soldiers. In fact, the leadership of our country was not often mentioned nor was it a concern. Among us were draftees, regular Army, conscientious objectors, those who supported the current politics, and those who did not. But, none of that mattered. Whatever brought us in, however we were brought in, we were to be faithful, one to another, brother to brother, death to death, life to life. Whatever our politics, whatever our opinions on the war, those were pointless. Only supporting our brother soldier was important. I heard many a four-letter reference to political leaders but none toward the Army itself.
Today, of course, we would say our brother and sister soldiers, but that was another time, another era. Nevertheless, catch to whom our loyalty was really directed. Our training was tough. Our training had us gasping at the end of the day. But, we were heading for war (or so we thought, not all went to Vietnam), and we knew that the training was necessary. The same is true for those who have trained since the first Gulf War. They have been training for, and know that they will experience, war. They know that their chances of survival are found in the training that they are receiving. They volunteered for it–unlike us–and they put up with it so that they can survive.
The same should be true of us Christians. Saint Paul warned us. In Ephesians 6 he called upon us to put on the full armor of God. When someone is calling you to put on your armor, it means that you are going to war. Well, unless you are part of a law enforcement team, which means that you are going to a situation. Just like soldiers, we are called to undergo training. Our fasting, our regular liturgies are that training. We learn to slowly control our passions so that we might be more effective against the enemy.
The problem with training is that it is not pleasant. Our drill instructors would leave us in pain at the end of the day. Our muscles would be sore the following money. Only when our training had advanced for a while did our pain decrease. But, that does not mean that there was no pain. As our muscles strengthened, as we were able to march farther, as we learned how to call in medevac–I was in medical training, not combat training–we were simply pushed harder. If we could not “survive” the training, we were most certainly not going to survive the war. The same is true of the training that God chooses to put us through.
We are warned of that in the New Testament. We simply tend to, um, not quite notice what it says.
“If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
Both God and the epistle writer have warned us that the process of truly becoming a Christian is every bit as difficult as the process to become a soldier. It is not pleasant. It is not nice. It is training for war. We are both in a spiritual war and a war against ourselves. We both battle for the souls of others and we battle for our own souls. We have the assurance that God will save us. Yet, we know that, like a good soldier, God expects us to undergo his training. The soldier who refuses training is no true member of the hosts of God, and risks God’s version of a dishonorable discharge. But, the soldier who undergoes training has the assurance of an honorable remembrance regardless of how short his/her service is. There were soldiers in every war who never had a chance to do anything in defense of their brother or sister soldier. Soldiers were killed long before they fired a single shot or saved a single person. But, every one of them is counted as honorable for they trained, they obeyed, they served, and they died faithfully. The same is true of Christians.
C.S. Lewis was correct when he said that the training is painful. But, it is worth it. Let us be his soldiers and let us train faithfully.
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