The Barracks or The Battlefield

"Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier." 2 Timothy 2:3,4 (NASB)

"A barracks is meant to be a place where real soldiers were to be fed and equipped for war, not a place to settle down in or as a comfortable snuggery in which to enjoy ourselves. I hope that if ever they, our soldiers, do settle down God will burn their barracks over their heads!" Catherine Booth (wife of William Booth founder of the Salvation Army)

I was recently reflecting on my time in the United States Army and remembering what it was like. For those reading this post you may not know that I was a combat soldier; combat soldier? yes if I were still in the army and in Iraq right now I would be on the front lines engaging the enemy. I was fortunate though to have never seen combat. We would spend weeks at a time training as if we were at war; this meant we had to go the "field" and play war games. While we were in the field we would be given an opportunity to come back to the barracks to get a hot shower and maybe a little rest but it wouldn't be long before we would have to leave the barracks and go right back to the training; were it seemed like it was always a hardship. It was either hot and muggy during the summer time or cold and wet during the winter time.

How can this speak to us a Christians? We must get out of the comfy cozy barracks and get on to the battlefield. We must discipline and train ourselves to be soldiers of Christ Jesus. The primary tasks that we have been given by our LORD is to seek and save the lost, to go and make disciples (other soldiers who are disciplined), to preach the Gospel to every creature. If we remain in the barracks than we aren't obeying the voice of our commander. We must endure the hardships that are involved with being a soldier and be intentional about the LORD's work.