I’m thankful for the men and women in uniform who protect our country and keep us safe. Many of them do dangerous and often thankless jobs to protect us, and others train diligently to be ready at a moment’s notice to protect our country and her citizens from threats. They take orders and execute them efficiently, they undergo hard training and sometimes dangerous missions, and those who serve active deployments can find themselves in literal life-and-death conflicts. Turns out, there is a lot for us as Christians to learn from the job of a soldier. Like them, we as soldiers of Christ take our orders from our higher-ups, we suffer and do hard things, and we are engaged in a life-and-death struggle. In 2 Timothy 2:3-6, Paul uses three analogies to drive home one big idea: being a follower of Jesus requires self-denial, focus, and diligence. “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.” Much like the soldier, we as Christians have certain obligations and responsibilities that are our duty to faithfully carry out.

In the first place, we receive our orders from our higher-up, our Commanding Officer. It is not up to us to decide how to conduct ourselves or to decide what our mission is. Like a soldier, we receive orders and commands from our superior and we are expected to adhere to the mission and the standard operating procedures, as laid out in his instructions, the Bible. Second, much like soldiers must endure a grueling boot camp as well as other seasons of intense training, we too must be willing to suffer and do hard things for our Lord. Sometimes he leads us through seasons of difficulty that purify us and make us stronger in our faith. A soldier must go through training in order to become stronger so that he is ready for attack at any time. In the same way, if we face the challenges that lie in our path with God’s help, we can become stronger and more equipped to serve him in other seasons of life. Third, we as Christians—like soldiers—are engaged in a life-and-death struggle. Soldiers know that there is no place for complacency on the battlefield. That ought to be a lesson for us that there is no room for complacency in our Christian lives. If we let our guard down—even for a minute—we could expose ourselves to the attacks of the evil one. Fellow soldiers of Christ, remember that you have signed on as a soldier in the greatest army there ever was, the army of Christ. If we share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, we will assuredly share in his victory, for our Commander cannot lose.