press on

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things....put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."
(Phil. 4:8-9)

General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was immensely fond of pushing his troops into the fray of battle by encouraging them with cries of "Press on! Press on!" And indeed, the call of action we read in this letter to the church at Philippi by Paul is his own proclamation of "Press on!"

Pressing on into the battle is something that cannot be taken lightly. Casualties are just as sure to happen as are moments of confusion, doubt, and surprise attacks. To say that we are not actively in a state of war would only be defending your position with lies. The words of Paul cannot be ignored: "The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. (2 Cor. 10.3-5)" We will suffer for Christ. We will take hits for him. We will bleed. Knowing that then, what must our attitude be?

Our attitude must be a proactive want that God bless our lives so much people will talk about what He is doing. That means we must actively give Him our best in every area. If we are successful in the fruits of our labor, we praise Him. And if our fruits turn more to raisins, we praise Him. Either way we honor Him with our actions and our attitudes. So what then do we do to make our life on the battlefield worth living - and possibly dying - for? It is a conscious resolution to give God everything we have, then leave all the results up to Him.

Winning a battle here and there and only living for the momentary may have won an occasional campaign or two - but that attitude has never won a war. And pressing on in such a spiritual war must have the latter tactical option than the former. Anything less that seeking overall total victory is too small a thing to live for. 

"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil."

(Eph. 5:15-16) 

faith of our fathers

Many know the verse from Hebrews like they know the parable of the Prodigal Son - "Faith is being sure of what we hope for. It is being certain of what we do not see. (Heb. 11.1)" And how often do we skip over those lines without much thought - just like our readings of the Prodigal Son.

It's time that changed.

How easy is it to live life according to our wants and needs. It is our idea of heaven to do what we want, when we want, and how we want it. To have the ability to set our own schedules, sleep in as late as we want, eat out whenever and whatever we like, come late into work and leave early and take a long break in the middle of the day is everyone's dream. To put ourselves into the leadership role of our own lives has the hope of ending all of our problems and leaving us fat and happy when retirement rolls around.

But it is a false hope. For it is not what we want, when we want, and how we want it but what He wants for us, when He wants it, and how He wants it. We move not on our time but on His. What we see as our major life choices and decisions are only ours because He allows it. For some, especially those who take comfort on being in total control, the risk of letting someone else take the helm - especially a powerful man we cannot even see - can be more than daunting. But isn't faith just that - daunting? It forces us to surrender to the unknown. It forces us to truly let go and truly let God. How easy that is to write but how hard it is to actually let your guard down and let it happen. 

Faith not put into action is a faith that could potentially go stale. We must not only completely surrender ourselves up to Christ and by extension faith itself, but in putting the latter into action we must call upon the Lord with the firm reliance and assurance that He will not only hear but listen and act. The Compline Psalm (Chapter 4) makes it clear that we must all know for a fact "that the LORD does wonders for the faithful; when I call upon the LORD, he will hear me."

Faith is integral to the life of a Christian. Living out that faith in our daily lives - especially when we are hard-pressed - creates for God the avenue to set us free. With that strong faith we come to God with our favors, call on him, and dutifully wait for his action. Though shadows may increase, uncertainties abound, and hard, hard days loom with great potential on the horizon, doubting that faith and the possibility of God not responding to those favors asked by his faithful is a bad slope to traverse down that will only lead to more disaster and difficulty.

To truly seek and serve Christ through faithfulness we must remember to go forth in confidence, seek the intercessions of the Saints, personify Acts 1:8, and constantly hunger for the body and blood of Jesus Christ - not just simple symbolic bread and wine. How easy it is to write - how harder it is to live - but we must risk the hardships of our present and have faith that God will hear our call and respond to our requests for any of our hardships at the end of the day "are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Rom. 8.18b)"