FAITH CAPSULE: Christian soldier cannot escape hardship in this world of wickedness.

2 Timothy 2:1-13

Are you a Christian soldier by mouth or by act? A Christian soldier need not to be introduced as a soldier because his warlike disposition will always point him out as one who is operating as a sold-out soul for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What kind of a soldier are you? Are you a soldier who will always need constant introduction as a soldier? A soldier can be described as a person who contends or serves in any cause such as a soldier of the Lord. Soldiers are to persist steadfastly in their cause and to persevere until the work is done.
An eligible and qualified soldier for Christ has to be a sold out soul for the cause of the cross that Jesus carried to Calvary when He was crucified. Paul, the apostle, admonished Timothy by using an illustration of a soldier. “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” (2 Timothy 2:3-4)
Paul’s illustration for faithfulness is that a soldier (follower of Christ) must endure hardship. Unfortunately, Christian soldiers today do not want to endure hardship, but rather want to enjoy worldly pleasures or live lives of convenience and not commitment. Endurance can be painful and can possibly generate unwanted suffering.
Enduring hardship is what qualifies a Christian soldier as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Every Christian soldier must know how to endure; Christian soldier cannot escape hardship in this world of wickedness. The Christian soldiers without endure of challenges in this world are soldiers that often entangle themselves with the affairs of this life. It is clear in the word of Paul that no soldier engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life and answered to cause of Christian soldier.
Paul warned against affairs of this life. In the book of Peter 2:11, Paul warned against fleshly lusts, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” Among the affairs of this world that can derail a soldier for Christ is fleshly lust. Undoubtedly, fleshly lust is a principal target which Christian soldier should not to take for granted because it launches its attack on a regular basis. Fleshly lust will present great or small temptation that do not spare grave for fleshly lust ones. It is so deadly that it only goes after its target which is the soul of every Christian soldier. Once a soul is captured, the role as a soldier becomes incarcerated in the hand of chief of all wickedness; the evil one himself.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to please God in your calling by being protected from becoming a victim of fleshly lust.