Metaphors for the journey: Soldier

Good day to you reading this blog. 

I have been thinking lately about the christian journey and how it has various word pictures or metaphors that help us as christians get an idea of what it is like to be on the journey of following Jesus and how to deal with all that we face. A particular text that has grabbed my imagination in this light is, 2 Timothy 2:1-7. The text reads:

2 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 

The context for this passage matters as it does whenever we are thinking about a particular text. In short Paul is writing this letter, his last letter that we have, to his prodigy and ‘son in the faith’ Timothy. He writes this letter while he is in prison in Rome and Timothy is in Ephesus serving the church there. A lot seems to be going on in the church and with Timothy’s leadership that Paul wants to address and encourage him on. In chapter one he seems to establishes Timothy's spiritual background. Paul expresses gratitude for Timothy, by reminding him of his past, in order to set the stage for later teachings. Paul first expresses gratitude for Timothy's prior faithfulness, and reminds him of how God called him into ministry.

Thus he opens the new chapter in our bibles with: ‘You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.’ 

It is for Timothy to continue in his call and the grace in Christ Jesus and it is for him go ahead and pass on what he has learnt from Paul. There is much to unpack in those two verses but for the sake of this blog and its theme I won’t go any further.

Then comes the invitation with the metaphors I would like to examine. 

‘Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.’

There are two things that stand out to me here. 

1. The invitation of Paul to Timothy to share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ.

From my perspective and experience many christians in the modern day struggle with the idea of suffering in the life of a believe, they believe it should not take place and where it is happening much like Jobs friends they lean towards understanding it as punishment from God for sin in the life of that believer. There is also a group of believers I have come across, not as popular but certainly prevalent, that believe that suffering is the only way of the believer, their perspective is that life is this battle ground of testing, suffering and strife and the hope is to hold on long enough to be able to reach the promised land/heaven. I would like to offer a third option based on the remarks by Paul here in this text. I would like to offer that because life is a mix bag of good and bad there is inevitably suffering that we will experience and Paul is saying to Timothy and in a way to us that to share in suffering is the way of the good soldier of Christ. Sharing in the common aches and pains of this life and doing it in a good manner holding well that you are a soldier of Christ, a good one at that. In other words, because suffering will happen let us not do it alone but rather share in it. Also let us do so as good soldiers not as disgruntled workers or some other word picture he could have chosen. 

1. The focus of the soldier being focused on pleasing the one who enlisted him. 

This word picture is quite a profound one for me not because I have operated in the ranks of the military no, but because all that I have seen and read about the military new and old is that this is a key attribute that must be present in the life of the soldier. The soldier must fight for the nation they represent and follow their orders to the tee. I am grateful that the one I am enlisted to is not a harsh dictator leader who has a huge ego I must appease but rather that the most governing characteristic of him is to choose love in every situation. At first reading this idea of thought of the harsh military sergeants I have seen portrayed in popular movies or book I have read but non of those fit with the character of Jesus Christ or God for that matter. Only when I thought about trying to please them did I realise that the best way to do that is to become even more a person of love than I am today and to do so despite all that is going on in the world around me or even in the church. It seems that may be what Paul is trying to get Timothy to look at and focus on almost as if to say: Timothy don’t let the going on in the church distract you from living a life that please Christ, the one who brought you into his service.

When I think of Metaphors or word pictures for the journey of faith we are on, where Paul starts with this soldier language in quite far from my own personal life but certainly brings into view a way that is helpful in navigating the suffering I experience and the pull towards people pleasing I feel. Being spoken of as a soldier helps me to see myself as a part of a bigger unit with whom I can share my suffering and as one who is meant to execute on the mission of loving God and loving others without getting caught up in the latest scandal, culture war or disagreement. 

There is much that can be take from Pauls statement but I hope that you too would be a soldier who suffers with others and focuses on pleasing the one that enlisted you. I believe in doing so you can thrive in life and faith.