Fight

Fight 

It has been my privilege to have a number of friends who have served our country in military service. Their service and sacrifice can sometimes go unappreciated by those of us who have never chosen to serve our country in this way and who directly benefit from their sacrifices. We can take our freedoms for granted and tend to forget that our freedoms have come as a result of men fighting, bleeding, and dying to make sure we keep those freedoms. Freedom is not freely given, it is won through war, gained by conflict. In order to keep peace, we must prepare ourselves continuously for war, for war will inevitably come and so we must always be ready. 

It has been an even greater privilege to know and be among many who have fought valiantly as Christians the spiritual battles of life, many of whom have gone home to their reward. 

It is with those thoughts that I write this post. While I realize that the issues stated in this post do not apply to all across the board, I believe it generally applies in many cases. 

When we turn our attention to our children, what are we training them to be? Are we training children who are fit for war (and by this I mean the spiritual sense)? Are we training soldiers or are we training children who just merely enjoy the spoils of war, if you will, without putting forth any effort themselves?

All the proof we need of this fact is to look at our spiritual ancestors. We recognize the children of Israel, after they had fought the battles necessary to claim their land of promise, rest and fail to uphold what they had gained. We see a nation who, after years and years of fighting, experienced relative peace and comfort. When good men passed on, those like Joshua and Caleb who stood strong to lead the people in the battles to drive out the inhabitants and keep their land, no other men stood to take their place. When good men fail to step up and lead, evil men arise to take advantage. And so the nation grew to the point where they enjoyed the benefits of the generation before them without having to put forth much effort themselves. Therefore, as Judges 2:10 states, "When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel." We enjoy the spoils, as they did, but sometimes we also fail to realize that it requires us to continue the fight in order to keep the peace; both as a nation and as Christians. 

We have, in many respects, gotten soft as a nation and as Christians. In many ways we have forgotten what it means to stand and fight, because we've lost the fight within ourselves. We've all too often given in to the enemy, satan, in our personal lives rather than arise to the challenges of life and fight even harder to keep him at bay; so as a result we are ill-equipped to train others how to fight because we have all but given up. We're content to complain, but rarely ever act on our complaints in the right manner. We have parents who don't discipline their children, who raise children to believe they are the center of attention and the world owes them everything just merely by virtue of them being alive. We have children who were raised believing they were the end all be all, and so when they become parents they continue the same senseless pattern. 

We have parents and grandparents who continuously tear down those who are in power, in authority, and the children seeing this learn something. They learn how to undermine those in authority, how to disrupt the natural balance and order in society, how to whine and complain better without ever taking action themselves. They learn how to be discontent and stressed. They learn disrespect. And then we wonder why we lose whole generations of children in the church, or why troubles come and leadership is undermined or altogether disregarded. It starts with us, as those who influence them in the home. What do we say, what is our focus, what drives us? 

Friends, it is good to mourn for our nation, call attention to immorality, call out those who disregard our own laws, seek justice when those in power grow corrupt and abuse their power. That is right to do. What is not right is to name call, hurl insults, celebrate the demise or death of evil men, rejoice when others fall, play the blame game and speak ill of others...in short, it is wrong for us to do anything that would bring dishonor to the One we call ourselves after. Let's ask ourselves this: would what I'm saying, doing, or the way I'm acting be practiced by Christ and His apostles or would they condemn such behavior? What's our focus?

We have law and processes to follow in this country, as well as in the church, that we must abide by. Our children need to see that we respect and abide by that law and process. We are men of action and purpose, not men of meaningless words and worthless actions. Our children and grandchildren are watching, may we consider our ways and what they will learn by observing our words and actions, or lack thereof. If we think ourselves man enough to speak out against something, let us be man enough to be the first to follow through with actions to back up those words as long as we find it in keeping with God's word (if it's ungodly then let us purge that from our hearts and actions). If we're all talk and no action, we are failing those around us. The battles of life are not won by talking it to death, they're won by brave men acting upon what they believe. Let us look to our ultimate example to see how to handle the issues of life; let us look to Jesus, who was the truest of leaders. Whatever He spoke, He followed through with Himself. 

Let us never utter a word we're not willing to produce action for; little eyes are watching, what are they learning?

We need parents to raise children who know what it means to fight. Fight for their principles, for others, for themselves, for honor, for something greater than themselves - for the cause of Christ. We need children who appreciate the sacrifice of those before them and honor that sacrifice by engaging in the battle themselves. We've collectively, generally speaking, lost our spine in this country, as well as among ourselves as Christians. We want the world to cater to our every whim rather than get our hands dirty and do the hard work necessary to continue the fight, and so we raise children who just continue in our steps. It's time we wake up to our own mediocrity and change our ways!

Satan has deceived us, friends. May we all wake up and amend our ways before it is too late in whatever way this may apply. 

I am acutely aware of what a tall order this is and what big words I have stated here. It is precisely for this reason that I beg of those of you who interact with me to keep me honest and humble; to remind me of what I've said here and to chastise me if you see me failing in any regard along these lines. Expect more of me, friends and brethren. Demand nothing less than exemplary service from me, never mediocrity. Expect my best efforts at all I do; and, if for any reason, you perceive that I'm not putting forth my best, then call me out on it. Trust me when I say I appreciate those who care enough to challenge me to do better and attempt to make me a better man (isn't this what God does for us through His word?). Call me out for my wrongs, don't let me be lost. It is my vow, as a soldier of the cross, to do the same for you.

Let's not merely identify problems, let's do the hard work required to actually fix the problems that are in our power to fix. Fight the good fight, friends. Heaven awaits the faithful soldiers of the cross.