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The whole point of a soldier’s being well-armed is not for the parade ground, the reviewing stand, or mock maneuvers, but for the field of combat. The reason we are to “take up the whole armor of God” is that we “may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.” The worship of Almighty God is both an exalted privilege and an awesome responsibility. Failure to grasp this truth plunged the likes of Cain (Gen. 4), Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10), and King Saul (1 Sam. 13) into terrible calamities (Eph. 6:13). The evil day is best understood as the day of combat, trial, temptation, persecution, or opposition. The real spiritual battles are the frequent, often daily, encounters the Christian soldier faces as he takes up the cross daily to follow his Commander-in-chief (Luke 9:23). In the daily fray is where the armaments and weapons supplied by the Lord are required. Each of us will stand or fall spiritually for the most part, not in one great pitched battle, but in the daily skirmishes that add up to the prolonged warfare.
We have a responsibility to stand and fight. Rather than cowering, compromising, or running from the foe, we are to “resist the devil: and he will run from us” (Jam. 4:7). We are not “give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:27) by surrendering or abandoning the Truth. We are to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them” (Eph. 5:11). We, like Paul, must be “set for the defense of the Gospel” (Phi. 1:16). Soldiers of Christ are obligated to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3). The worthy spiritual warrior must be “stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord…” (1 Cor. 15:58). We are ordered to uncompromisingly withstand the devil in our faith (1 Pet. 5:8–9).
When one staunchly stands for the Truth while those about him are retreating, compromising, and even deserting the blood-stained banner of the Heavenly kingdom, he will encounter suffering. The world will see that the faithful soldier pays a price for his dedication. Likewise, the brethren whose position of compromise and desertion is exposed by the bold and resolute soldier will turn their “guns” on him. Paul, who suffered so many perils, both from worldlings and from false brethren (2 Cor. 11:26), perfectly exemplified the trait of determined faithfulness, yea, heroism, under enemy fire. He encouraged Timothy (and us): “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:3). Such soldiers have the heartening promise of the Lord:
Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you (Mat. 5:11–12).
[Note: I wrote this article for and it was published in The Lighthouse, weekly bulletin of Northpoint Church of Christ, Denton, TX, March 4, 2010, of which I was editor.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
