We have been through some difficult schools; haven’t we? I personally, have been to Airborne School, Air Assault School, Ranger School, Sapper School, Military Mountaineering, POQC… all military services have numerous, optional schools that can be extremely tasking, that sometimes make one wonder if it is worth all of the time, physical exertion, psychological and mental focus, sleep deprivation, emotional stress, personal sacrifice, etc. to complete in order to rise above one’s peers and be a part of one of the more “elite” organizations within our respective services. We make it through by enduring the hardships and keeping our “eyes on the prize.” We accept the reality that the benefits of completing a particular course of training far out-weigh the pain involved. There are times during the training when the pain can be almost too much to bear. This is when that little voice in your head begins to tell you, “all this pain can stop. All you have to do is DOR, LOM, ring that bell, etc.” For many, that voice wins, and those individuals give up. Obviously, that is part of the reason why these schools are so challenging; filter out the ones that don’t have the intestinal fortitude to willingly endure the hardships. The benefits just weren’t worth the sacrifice for them.
Living the Christian life this day and age can certainly have the same pitfalls. The attraction and the pull of what the flesh desires – creature comforts, acceptance by friends and family, the lure of making lots of money, “sex, drugs and Rock and Roll” – can take our “eyes away from the prize;” an eternity with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in Heaven. The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” The forces we are dealing with today want us to believe that killing one’s unborn child is acceptable, it is perfectly fine to mutilate your young children in order to affirm their perceived gender, it’s wonderful that drag queens are exposing our youngsters to the world of perversion, etc. The Profit Isaiah said, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20) The things that were considered evil and unthinkable not 50 years ago are now being haled as “progress” by the people that Isaiah describes in his prophesies when he said, “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:21). Any dissent or disagreement with these viewpoints is now considered “hate speech” and can have adverse effects on one’s career and reputation. Some may ask themselves, “why fight it? If all of these experts are saying it’s OK, then it must be OK. Hey; who am I to judge?”
Unfortunately, our “flesh” needs to feel like we fit in, to be accepted by friends and family, avoid conflict, etc., and all this does is distract us from following the Lord and standing firm in our faith; just like our flesh desires a good night’s sleep, to be warm, to be clean and comfortable as we are crawling through the mud under barbed wire with artillery simulators going off all around us. A perfect example of being distracted from the ultimate prize was the Apostle Peter. In the Gospel of Matthew, we read about when Peter was out on his fishing boat in the Sea of Galilee, he sees Jesus walking on the water towards him. Jesus called to him “And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” (Matthew 14:29) The next verse says, “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.” Peter was distracted by the storm and took his eyes off of Jesus and started to sink. He was literally walking on water! The only mortal human being to ever do that; an amazing miracle happening here, but the external world’s distractions ruined Peter’s experience of a true miracle. No matter what distractors the world throws at us, no matter how coercive they become, we must keep our eyes on Christ to keep us on the right path and keep us walking on top of the stormy waters of this world. Then we can all stand tall at our ultimate graduation ceremony before the Throne of Grace.
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