Like a good soldier

NORSK
A few days back, I wrote about the calling to join in suffering. Today, the same calling reappears, and this time Paul uses soldiers as role models for joining in suffering:

Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
2 Tim 2:3

I have relatively limited experience from the military, and even though it was during the "Cold War", the wars were far away. My “suffering” was therefore limited to having to endure blisters and cramps during hard marches and drills, plus the encounter with my own conviction that even military combats are evil actions and not in congruence with the commandment to love one another.

However, I have also been a soldier for Jesus almost the whole of my life and have no problems with endorsing the comparison. As a soldier, I am visible. Thus, people will associate me with the negative experiences they have had with the Salvation Army in particular and Christianity in general, and I will be held accountable. This has led to physical assaults, spitting and lots of insults and profanity.

Fortunately, very many also have good experiences, and therefore they utter words of encouragement. The strange thing is that it can also be a painful challenge with 'popularity'. When "all" people like us, but few receives the gospel and even fewer are willing to join in the mission God has given us, it hurts. I believe that it was primarily this latter variant of "suffering", which Paul focused on. If I have a passion for the salvation of men, I will suffer when they reject the gospel. It is in such situations a good soldier does not lose heart, but looks up to “the commander of the army of the Lord” and asks:

“What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
Jos 5:14

Today 'manna':

I want to be a good soldier

Where do you belong? – 2

Today I will reflect on the second answer of the “most important Christmas-song”. I will look into the answer: I belong in the “jumpers’ land”.

When I think about "jumping" in a Christian context, my thoughts immediately go to one of the stories Terry Camsey used when he taught about Church Growth for 25 years ago. He told the anecdote about the "jumping nuns". 

The tradition of the Order was that the nuns jumped while they were praying. There is no harm in jumping while praying, but when someone asked “why”, no one knew the answer. On closer examination, it came to light that when the order was founded, the nuns were barefooted when they prayed. The reason was the passages where Moses and later Joshua (1) were asked to take off their shoes because they stood on holy ground. The combination bare feet and a cold paved floor made to the nuns jump to keep warm while they prayed. They continued this tradition also after heating was installed in the monastery. Jumping had become part of the tradition.

There is nothing wrong with traditions as long as I know that they have a purpose and a function. However, it is dangerous to be stuck in a "jumpers’ land" where the tradition is drained of its content.

The Christmas Mystery was, and is, a protest against vain traditions.

'Manna' for today:

I belong in a land rich on content!

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(1) Exodus 3:5 & Jos 5:15