The Softest Curse

People live differently during war. There is an intensity and intention to every action and choice. The money that is spent is metered out more carefully, going only to what is deemed truly necessary. More thought is put into how time is spent with the looming knowledge that an enemy is close at hand. The men and boys in combat find a kind quality of connection that isn’t built elsewhere. Those who shed blood together are bonded in a way that no amount of long conversation, mutual attraction, or similarty can compare to. Even for those who are far from the battle front, there is a kinship and directedness in relationships when a common enemy is identified.

How is it then that we see nearly nothing like that deep-rooted war time brotherhood and comradery in the body of Christ in America? We are commanded time and again throughout the Word that we are to be vigilant and prepared for battle; that we have a common enemy who is at the gates of each of our lives. Yet we don’t live anything like those young men in the trenches of the World Wars or the thousands of men who fought for the liberty of their country during America’s Revolutionary War. Oh, how I long that we would take our days with the kind of intensity that a man who knows full well the fight before him does!

The problem is that, though we are warned, we don’t feel the battle. We don’t see the war. This is true in part for the entire Christian body across the face of this earth, but massively more for those of us who call nations like America our home. Somewhere along the way we’ve lain down in the midst of battle and decided that sleep and the dreams it brings is more real than the war that rages around us. Does a man in combat lay down his weapons and close his eyes for rest? I think not. Do men who are posted to guard their encampment simply drop their duties to find something more entertaining to do just because there is no sound or sight of an enemy? I’ll bring this home in an even more direct way…does that soldier posted on night guard at an base in Iraq grab his Ipod and turn on music to cause the time to pass more quickly? I highly doubt it. To do so would be to endanger and possibly allow the death of his comrades.

In Isaiah 43:22 God declares to Israel, “you have not called upon me, O Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel.” How many of us can declare in honesty that we have warred in prayer for so long that we lost sleep? Can I declare that I have rationed down my leisure time because there are things that are more necessary? Have you wearied yourself for the Lord as that man who loves his commander wearies himself by marching mile after mile at a simple command? Have we born up our brothers and sisters at our own expense by carrying their burdens or perhaps even carrying them? Perhaps it comes down to a literal monetary cost when a family is unable to pay for their housing and another family who has only slightly more generously gives what little they have to help sustain their friends. I think of the amazing story told in the book The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom of how her family endangered their own lives by sheltering Jews from the Nazi troops and ultimately payed the cost of doing so, but rejoiced in doing so because they knew that they where doing so for the honor of their king.

How much stronger would our hearts and souls be if we realized that we are in the midst of a war? Let our arms be ready! Let us fall to our knees and pray late into the night. Let us press on into the foray side by side and follow the banner that is held high upon the cross of Christ. Jesus himself said that, “when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself,” so let us band together and lift the glory of our God and Savior high at any cost. My heart thrums and the thought of young men and young women coming together with the intensity and purpose of those at war, planning and praying and studying ways to become more and more images of their Creator. This life isn’t something that we do well on our own. It’s not even something that we do well when loosely connected to people around us by things like similar interests or events or even blood ties. To really live we must be so strongly wrapped in with others that we cannot be seperated. E.M. Forster said, “Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect.”

That is my charge to you; live in fragments no longer. Stop living in a fake-faced peace. Face up to the fact that we are at war and live like it. Be alert, be ready, trust those who are your comrades with your life, strive to be worthy of the same trust from them. Do as Romans 12:9-21 commands us to do. Love one another, sincerely and whole-heartedly. That is our war. May we fight it well, even unto the death!