At the swedish discussion forum soldiership has been in the air for a couple of days and my good friend Mackan said something that made me rethink soldiership. He said, You are not a soldier for you, soldiership is about others. You are a soldier so that others kan have a tobacco and alcohol free zone to come to.
In every warrior culture the warrior signs up volontarily to become the one that will lay down his life for his community, tribe, kingdom or country. Yes with that has come priviliges as well, but ultimately to die. Not necessarily a physical death but even in the warrior cultures of the world, in the midst of the priviliged status of warrior was loneliness, the dark nights with doubts, the years on the campaign trail, the sweat, the mud, the grime, the blod, the injuries and possible death.
Soldiership is a calling to follow Christ, to die to this world and live for Him. It is not a comfortable living, it is a life of constant denial. You deny yourself the comforts and luxuries of this world to enter into the battle for people souls. Just as Jeus was called to spread light, healing Love but ultimately to die for our sins. Jesus was the ultimate warrior, not only did he wage war upon evil wherever he encountered it he took the battle beyond this material world into the spiitual realm and at the cost of His life, that He knowingly and willingly gave under excruciating pain and suffering, He won the greatest victory of all.
Soldiership is a calling to die. Again not necesarily a physical death but a death to self, a death to this worlds pleasures and luxuries, a death to my selfish wishes, only to serve Him and my neighbor. To love my neighbor so much that I am willing to lay down my life so that he or she will have one more chance to enter the kingdom of God.
Do you want to be a soldier of God? Are you ready to die?
Cool to be able to actually plant a new thought (about soldiership, at that) in your brain.
You should put that last sentence on a T-shirt. It should sell like popsicles in Sahara 😉