Devotinal Sharing, Submitted by Daemin Kim, Gracepoint Berkeley
What are the qualities of a soldier, an athlete, and a hardworking farmer that I need to emulate? The qualities of a soldier, an athlete, and a hardworking farmer that I need to emulate include: commitment, dedication, and endurance. A soldier must have discipline, courage, commitment to duty, and must have proper training. A soldier must obey the commanding officer. I need to learn to obey God, through the Word of God and through my spiritual leaders. I need to learn to overcome my fears in fulfilling my duty in the spiritual battle in the world. An athlete must know the rules and compete according to the rules, and must follow rigorous training. I need to learn to give up anything that would get in the way of my training as a disciple of Christ, including any laziness or comfort seeking. A hardworking farmer perseveres through the seasons until the crops are gathered, and then he does it all over again. I need to learn to persevere and work hard for the long haul. There is also a sense that all three is about struggling: against the enemies that would seek to destroy me, against myself to make myself more disciplined, and against the fallen world that makes planting and harvesting such a toil. I need to emulate the posture of constant struggling against the spiritual foes, against my own sinful nature, and against the broken world full of hurts and death.
How does this match my view of Christian life? In contrast to these standards, my view of Christian life is often too lax. I don’t pursue the discipline of a soldier or an athlete, and I don’t persevere in working hard like a farmer. All too often I seek the easier way, and don’t think of myself as a soldier engaged in battle, or an athlete in the middle of competition, or a farmer who must toil or starve. I fight or compete or labor for a time, and then grow complacent or lazy. I make excuses for myself using my poor health or whatever else is convenient in order to stay back from the battles or from labor. What would have happened if Paul and the early Christians had the flabby view of Christian life that I too often end up showing? The proper view is the one that Paul exhorts to Timothy in this passage.
What are the “civilian affairs” that hinder me from being a “good soldier of Christ Jesus”?
What “civilian affairs” hinder me from being the soldier of Christ that I need to be? Big source of struggle is my daughter – as my only child, who has grown up so fast and is now ready to face the world as a college freshman, she ends up being the source of much of my worries and distractions and I wonder about her safety, about whether I’m providing well for her, about so many things. Of course I’m called to love her as she is a gift from God. But if my attention is focused more on her than on my following Christ, the blessing that is my daughter becomes a “civilian affair” that would draw my energy away from my being a good soldier. I also need to be mindful of the temptation to “keep up with the Joneses” – to compare how much I have with what others around me have, whether money or property or leisure or achievements. Anything that’s about me, that draws the focus on me, such as insecurities or self-centeredness, is also a hindrance.
In what ways should a Christian be motivated by the things that motivate a soldier, an athlete, and a hardworking farmer to “endure hardship”?
A soldier, an athlete, and a hardworking farmer all have tangible mission and goals. The goals may not be easy – winning a war or a race – and they may take a lifetime – raising crops for life – but they are clearly laid out. A solider, athlete, or farmer is motivated by the goal and will endure hardship in order to attain the goal. Success and failure are clear. A Christian should be motivated by the goal of winning the spiritual battle through the gospel, and the goal of winning the marathon of spiritual life with God by being faithful to the end, and the goal of raising crop of souls for the Kingdom of God. The goals motivate us to go through the trials and difficulties that come from being a spiritual soldier or a farmer sowing and reaping the seeds of the gospel.
To what extent have I embraced this vision of Christian life?
Given all the struggles and doubts and sins in my life, I can say that I see no other life for me. There is no other life that’s worth living. I can look back at my life and see God’s faithfulness in keeping me going. I learned that it’s not about how strong I am as a soldier, or how fast I am as an athlete, or how capable I am as a farmer. Because I have poor health, and character issues that continue to plague me. Because despite how I’d like to present myself, I’m incompetent. I’ve failed in far more things, in ministry, in academics or whatever else, than I’ve succeeded. There have been many heartaches through the years as I sought to live this Christian life. But God’s kept me going. I learned that it’s not about me, but about God. And that means what I’m called to do is to endure the hardships by trusting God and relying on God rather than relying on myself. It means trusting God’s promises even when my senses or feelings tell me otherwise. This vision of Christian life motivates to persevere and not give up on struggling against my sinful nature, and keeps me going to minister to people regardless of difficulties. My daughter had her first day of college orientation yesterday. And I thought about what I want my daughter’s life as an adult to be like. I want for her the same life: of being a soldier for God, enduring the hardships. I pray that I can motivate her by persevering to the end.
Devotional Sharing, Submitted by Chris Lee, Gracepoint Berkeley
In what ways should a Christian be motivated by the things that motivate a soldier, an athlete, and a hardworking farmer to “endure hardship”? A soldier is motivated to endure hardship in order to win the battle. Because so many lives are at stake in a battle, discomforts and harsh conditions become insignificant in light of the mission. An athlete is motivated to perform at his best, to do better each time. A hardworking farmer is motivated by the crop he will be reaping at harvest.
I am a soldier of Christ. My mission is to engage daily in spiritual battles where people’s lives are at stake. In some way, I am always engaged in a battle. Whether I am at the frontline or behind the scenes, my being faithful to God and the responsibilities He has given me is crucial. Inconveniences, discomforts, dying to self can seem awfully difficult, and even impossible, to overcome if I focus only on them. However, when I open myself to the fact that we have been given the mission of strengthening and building each other up, of helping each other be ready to fully engage in the battle of bringing people into a growing, personal relationship with God, then these inconveniences and discomforts are but things that simply must be dealt with so that they don’t hinder me from being faithful to Christ. As a soldier of Christ Jesus, each day I must be absolutely clear about the significance of what I am doing as I go about serving him.
Like an athlete, each day I must be motivated to go through rigorous training so that I can give my best to God. In order to be at his / her best, an athlete goes into strict training to get into shape and to improve skills – physical, mental, emotional. Each competition is an opportunity to do a little better than before. No athlete would want to remain at the same level. As God’s servant, I must have the same heart and attitude. Even if I am doing some things again and again, I must strive to do better each time, not heartlessly or in an autopilot mode. But just as an athlete must go into strict training in order to do his/her best, all of my desires and commitment to do better would be mere wishful thinking unless I am submitting myself to rigorous spiritual training. For the joy of offering my best to Him, I must submit myself each day to spiritual training, through his words, through the brothers and sisters in my life.
Finally, like a hardworking farmer, I must be faithful in sowing and cultivating, regardless of results. As apostle Paul says in Galatians, “A man reaps what he sows,” if I sow in myself in others what is pleasing to God, then in due time, I will be able to rejoice in taking part in harvesting beautiful crop. All the effort would have been worth it. But now, I must be uncompromising and focused in learning and living out the words of God in my life, and helping others do the same.
Devotion Questions:
- What are the qualities of a soldier, an athlete, and a hardworking farmer that I need to emulate?
- How does this match my view of Christian life?
- What are the “civilian affairs” that hinder me from being a “good soldier of Christ Jesus”?
- In what ways should a Christian be motivated by the things that motivate a soldier, an athlete, and a hardworking farmer to “endure hardship”?
- To what extent have I embraced this vision of Christian life?
Commentary:
vv. 3-4 Soldiers on active service do not expect a safe or easy time. They take hardship, risk and suffering as a matter of course. These things are part and parcel of a soldier’s calling. As Tertullian put in his Address to MartyrsI: ‘No soldier comes to the war surrounded by luxuries, nor goes into action from a comfortable bedroom, but from the makeshift and narrow tent, where every kind of hardness and severity and unpleasantness is to be found.’ Similarly, the Christian should not expect an easy time. If he is loyal to the gospel, he is sure to experience opposition and ridicule. He must ‘share in suffering’ with his comrades-in-arms.
v. 5-6 If the athlete must play fair, the farmer must work hard. He ‘toils’ at his job, as the verb indicates. Hard work is indeed indispensible to good farming.
v.6 In this illustration, as in the previous two (soldier, vv.3-4; athlete, v.5), the main lesson is that dedicated effort will be rewarded–not necessarily monetarily, but in enjoyment of seeing the gospel produce changed lives.
Thank you for sharing!