“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” –G.K. Chesterton
This quote is a good reminder for the Christian that, while we hate sin and its effects and we long for Jesus to return and conquer Satan completely and eternally, our perspective for the battles we face in life should come from a place of deep love.
For their sake
As a man, I do not choose to daily fight against temptation and sin, against chaos and injustice, against apathy and falsity for my own personal good alone. No, I choose to pick up arms and fight against these things and others because I have a family I’m leading and protecting and setting an example for not just in speech and thoughts but in actions and through the whole of my life.
I pray, not only for my own personal relationship with Jesus, but also so my wife and my children will follow my example and pursue a personal relationship with Jesus.
I read my Bible, not only for my own spiritual nourishment and growth, but also in order for my wife and children to be nourished in the same.
I confess and repent of sin, fight against temptation, and work toward more of the fruit of the Spirit being born in my life for my own personal sanctification but also so that I might lead my wife and my children toward this end as well.
But here is where I must be cautious.
Fighting at a safe distance from harm
For the Christian, if I’m so focused on what’s behind me I might take everything in front of me as the enemy.
The Christian is not commanded by Jesus to marry, have children, and hide until his return, yet this is how many Christians live out their lives. We buy our houses furnished with a big fence around our property line, far away from the city, and if our homeowners association would allow it we might even dig a moat around our fence and fill it with all sorts of fearsome creatures in the hope of scaring off anyone who might interrupt our sacred space and time. We end up fighting, not by advancing, but by retreating into our castle walls and lobbing our holy arsenal at the “enemy” by our catapults conveniently located at a safe distance from any harm.
Suiting up for pillow fights
The signs of this reality are all around us. Our front porches are filled with cobwebs and only are back porches are used for our own private entertainment. Our social media status updates let everyone know what we are against, and we love posting those really good memes because the enemy is powerless against such an arsenal. The bold among us suit up in our finest armor and meet together outside of our castle walls in the name of “mission” at our local bowling alleys and pubs, yet never once engage anyone with love or the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, we love what’s behind us so strongly that we turn everything in front of us into the enemy and make our battles look more like childhood pillow fights than anything that would really cause our true enemy alarm and frustration.
The world is not our enemy
The world is not our enemy. The people around us are not our object of hate. They are prisoners of war, captured by Satan and his host of darkness who is our true enemy. Satan loves to dress up the people he’s enslaved and send them forward on the battlefield in the hopes that we’ll launch our protests and our memes and our hatred at them or even better, we’ll hide behind our walls and point down at them telling our children how horrible and despicable the enemy is while lobbing our holy hand grenades, the whole time missing the fact that these are adopted sons and daughters of the King, bound by darkness and evil, needing to be part of a rescue mission, in which we can serve.
I love my wife, my children, and my church family and I will fight on their behalf for their salvation and sanctification. But I will also fight for those in front of me, even those who would take up the sword against me, for while I know the truth of Romans 1 is clear in that sin distorts, deprives, and destroys I must also remember it is only through abiding in Jesus that any of us are truly free indeed (John 8:36).
“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 2:1–3 [cf]
