Skip to main content

What Does it Take to be a Good Soldier for Christ? - Part 4

"No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him." - 2 Timothy 2:4

A Soldier is Focused.

 When a soldier goes to war, his civilian life of paying bills, reading the newspaper, keeping up with sports, going to ball games, and changing diapers, is no longer of any concern to him.  Once deployed, he has one master and one mission.  His sole focus is to do what his commanding officer instructs him to do.

As followers of Christ, we must not allow ourselves to be consumed by the affairs of this world.  We get so caught up in careers, friends, money, and possessions often times that we lose track of what we have been commanded to do.  Our primary purpose and focus in life should be to do what Christ has commanded us to do:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." - Matthew 28:19-20a

It's not always easy but God must be first in our lives, above our family, above the church, and above all the other "stuff."  Lord, help me to be focused on doing your will, and remembering that I am here to serve you and not myself.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2020 is Hindsight...Finally!

Wow, what a year! 2020 could literally be an entire decade, maybe more, of history, change, and lessons rolled up into these twelve months. While many aspects of 2020 were kind of sucky and we would like to forget them, it will certainly be a year to remember. And it will be enlightening when this year is looked back on in 10, 25, or 50 years to be discussed. I wonder if we'll seem like geniuses or idiots? Probably both to some extent! While there is so much that I could consider and analyze about this year, I'll try to break some of it down into four dimensions - Physical, Spiritual, Mental, and Social/Emotional. These are events and happenings from my world and perspective and I'm trying to be open in sharing and would love to hear from others on events you found most transforming. Physical When COVID cause gyms to close, that messed me up. Our town and state were late to be hit with severe cases and therefore later than many across the country to close up shop. I'm n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Planes Fly in the Sky

Let me be very honest and candid about this - when I first read about the proposed airplane tax cut, I was not happy (just say it, I was mad!).  I thought that it was ludicrous to consider cutting tax revenue while counties are already struggling due to decreased sales and collections of local taxes.   However, unlike many people in today's culture, I didn't take to social media to start talking about how stupid the idea was and how much I disagreed with.  Instead, I started doing some research.  I looked up some information, asked some questions, had some conversations, and I learned some things. This was important for me to understand because I own a boat (I consider planes and boats luxury items) and pay Union County property taxes.  However, that boat hasn't been in Union for years.  It's housed and operated in a neighboring county.  There's not even anywhere that I can safely and legally operate my boat on public property in Union, yet I stil...
Post a Comment
Read more

The New Normal

When all of this COVID, Coronavirus, and pandemic talk first started, I literally got sick of hearing the phrase, "the new normal."  I heard sermons preached talking about what is normal.  I even preached one that I titled, "The Next Normal."  But what if these "new normal" people are actually onto something? When I was growing up, a normal summer consisted of a lot of time with Mom.  She was a school teacher so we were all out for several (probably stressful) months together.  She, my brother, and sister would spent countless hours at the pool and make several trips each year to stay at my aunt's house in the lower part of the state, about 30 minutes from the beach.  That was normal for me. But now, 30ish years or so later, life for my children (and their precious little grandchildren) looks very different - almost like there's a new normal in town.   My parents worked hard, sacrificed, and saved for years before purchasing a lake house in 2010 - ...
Post a Comment
Read more