The Good Soldier

We are called as Christians to fight the good fight, to be a soldier for the Gospel! I have recently had thoughts about what makes up the good soldier...

The good soldier is one who knows, and loves, and cherishes that which he is fighting for so dearly that there is no shred of doubt left in him.

Doubt has a way of creating in us half heartedness, for to pursue that which we do yet doubt is to fight for something we may not always hold to. Therefore we pursue it with caution, not giving it our whole heart, but holding back a piece of our heart for fear of defection. This fear is precisely the doubt that what we fight for is truly worth the sacrifice.

This is absolutely detrimental to the state of a soldier. The half hearted soldier, upon entrance to the ugliness of the battle field, does not have the courage to stand. He will not be of great gain for those he fights with, rather he will be a distraction, a lump of dead weight, or even a discouragement to his fellow soldiers. The soldier who is not more in love with that which he fights for than he is with his own life will not see the joy of victory but rather the battle will leave him beaten and torn, doubting more than ever before.

Isn't this the way we often live? Because of our doubt about the Christian faith, about God's existence, and our own deceitfulness we cannot give our whole heart to the Gospel battle! Therefore we throw our self into the battle half heatedly hoping that victory will confirm our faith. We believe in Christ the way Pascal did with his famous wager (if you don't accept Christianity and die and find out you are wrong there is much to fear, if you do accept Christianity and die and find out that you were wrong, you have nothing to fear for there is then nothing, so it is more sensible to accept Christianity.). That is no faith at all. Let us all become great gospel warriors who are so ravished by the Gospel, and so deeply we dive into the word of God, that we can set aside our doubts on the solid ground of faith!

May God guide your paths!