Conversation with an Officer Part II

"I loved being in Afghanistan with my troops because we concentrated on the war and all of the politicking, posturing, and elbowing for attention and positions when we are at home (peace-time) was non-existent." This was a paraphrased quote from an officer who recently returned from a 6 month tour overseas. This comment got me thinking about the body of Christ (Christians). How many times do we forget we are in a war but we live our lives like we're in peace time. We are worried about who gets the notoriety; who gets the prophetic word; who gets to hang out with the pastoral staff; who gets..., who gets..., who gets...!!! We forget we are in a battle and our adversary isn't people but a devil who wants to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10).

We get so out of focused on our calling as Christians. Jesus left us with two basic commandments: to love Him with everything we have and to love people like ourselves. I personally don't like being badgered into believing someones opinion. I don't like being embarrassed publicly for not acting a certain way (neither do most of you reading this blog). We expect people to treat us with respect and if we don't get that treatment we get turned off by the person violating our "space." However, if you approach me with love & concern, I'm all ears because I sense you have my best interest in mind when confronting me with a problem. Why should we expect the people that haven't made a decision for Christ to listen to us Christians when they can measure our love for them in a "thimble." My question is: ARE WE REALLY CONCERNED THAT THESE PEOPLE WILL SPEND ETERNITY AWAY FROM THE LORD. My answer is yes and if yes, I must ask: WHAT WOULD JESUS DO. Jesus would love them with an everlasting love. He would meet their physical and spiritual needs. He would hang out with them and not be afraid of there questions, lifestyle, or appearance.

Our fight as Christians is to extend the Kingdom of God. His kingdom is filled with righteous, peace, and joy. The very essence of His kingdom is LOVE! Let's remove the peace time mentality from our lives and embrace the fact that we are in a battle for souls. God will give you strategies for reaching people who aren't in His Kingdom.

Conversation with an Officer Part I

I love the military! I'm a former military brat (my dad was in the Army for 21 years). A few things I love about the men and women who fight for the freedom I enjoy as an American are: their dedication to country and the citizens of this great country; their work ethic; their understanding and respect of authority; and their commitment to one another.

I asked a friend, who is an officer in the military, what makes soldiers committed to one another during wartime. He said, we try to develop relationships of trust during peace time (paraphrase). He goes out of his way to drop by the office of soldiers under his command, instead of them coming to see him and scheduling off duty activities to develop camaraderie between the team. These interactions are to genuinely strengthen the team.

I love this example of someone in charge taking the initiative to display commitment...it reminds me how God didn't wait until we made the first move but He took the first step to show how committed He was to mankind by sending Jesus to reconcile us to Him (for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son John 3:16). He displayed what's expected of a leader.

You may be a president of a company, a pastor of a church, a married person, a parent, etc...what are you doing to build trust in the lives of the people you influence? What you invest in during peacetime, you'll reap when wartime comes. Today invest commitment and compassion in the ones that are around you.