By pastorbillwalden
Soldiers fight. That is what soldiers do.
Yes, they do other things. Soldiers feel the same things that non soldiers feel, think things that non-soldiers think, and want some of the same things that non-soldiers want, but in a major part of life, they are very different. Soldiers fight. 
The soldier fights when others are at rest. He has a different schedule than the non-soldier. When he does rest, he doesn’t forget that there is a battle, and always feels that he himself is ready to respond at any moment. He is always ready. He may not be fighting, but he is never out of the fight. He must not resent the non-soldier’s abundance of free time. The soldier is a soldier by choice. His life is different by design and purpose.
The soldier fights because he understands what is at stake. Others may not understand the enemy, the battle, or risk, but the soldier understands that there is much at risk. Others may mock the idea of there being a battle or an enemy. Non-soldiers may imagine that soldiers exaggerate the facts, and embellish the reports. The non-soldier may imagine that the soldier is in the fight only for the glory. The non-soldier cannot relate to the intensity of the soldier’s mind and heart, for he doesn’t understand the battle. The soldier does, however, understand the non-soldier, for the soldier used to be passive, indifferent, and distracted, just like the non-soldier, until the reality of the fight was revealed to him. Then he raised his hand, committed his heart, and changed his lifestyle.
The soldier understands that he belongs to something much bigger than himself. He is not his own. He doesn’t make his own decisions. He doesn’t plan his own life. He listens for the voice of his Superior, and he responds accordingly.
The soldier cannot allow himself to be discouraged by those that analyze and make comments about the battle, but do not fight. The soldier knows that he is not fully understood except by those that fight with him, and share the same struggles. It is among fellow soldiers that he finds most of his best comradery. The analysts and pundits pontificate, while the soldier does the work. He sometimes resents the so-called experts that criticize from the safety of their well-furnished vantage points. He has justifiable anger at those who second guess his best efforts, but have never faced the enemy. Yet in all of this, the soldier fights for the pundit and for the analyst. He shakes his head from time to time at their naivety and arrogance, but then gets back into the battle.
The soldier sometimes wants to quit. He remembers past failures, and how those failures allowed others to be hurt, or prevented victories. He has heard the call to charge, but hesitated. He knows true fear, and at times reverts back into his instinct of self-preservation. He also fears making a mistake that will allow others to be hurt, yet he cannot allow himself to be paralyzed by fear, for the enemy keeps coming. The soldier must fight forward, regardless of his fear for himself or for others.
The soldier must be careful about his evaluation of his comrades. He understands their frailties, for he shares them, and has felt them. He may feel critical of his comrades at times. They may seem to lack intensity, focus, and dedication, but except for rare occasions, the soldier realizes that he has walked in those boots, and his criticism fades.
The soldier lives for the cause though others minimize the cause. The soldier fights for others who cannot or will not fight for themselves. The soldier hopes for the best for others, while often times, others only hope for themselves.
The soldier continues on though few thank him, shake his hand, or consider his sacrifices.
In all of this, the soldier realizes that he cannot be anything other than a soldier. It is who and what he is. He cannot do anything else, though at times he may want to. He is what he is.
He is a soldier. God has made him one.
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)
By pastorbillwalden
Thanks to Jan Wagner, our office manager at church, for uploading my study notes on the book of Joshua.
I invite you to use the notes
as a companion to your devotional reading in Joshua.
Blessings….
By pastorbillwalden
Pastors and church leaders make many valid efforts to promote church unity. In any city, there is the church universal. Each of our particular churches is a sub culture of the City Church, and then within each church, there are sub-sub cultures, such as youth groups, 50’s plus groups, college groups, etc.
We are conscious to understand each sub-sub culture, to speak on their terms, and be sensitive to their world. We seek to promote activities that appeal to those sub-sub cultures, and to bring age appropriate blessings to them.
These efforts are good efforts, in that they reach into people’s worlds. We meet them where they are at. We become “all things to all men that we might save (and bless) some”. 
Human nature is such that we love our peer groups. Birds of a feather flock together. We all have that tendency. Like attracts like. Little or no effort is needed to mingle with people like ourselves. It is an unconscious human response to seek out peers that understand us, accept us, and approve of us. And so, sub-sub cultures exist within our church.
While recognizing and ministering to sub-sub cultures in our church has its benefits, it can also create problems regarding church unity. The blessing of attending church can revolve around easily fitting into our sub-sub culture peer group. There is almost if not actual immediate gratification in peer groups. Social and cultural mores are understood, and have been previously navigated. People enter into sub-sub cultures, and though the balance of things changes at times, lesser adjustments can be quickly made.
Most people that I know have little time to expand their circle of friends, much less try to break into a different sub-sub culture. The thought of learning another social language, another culture, etc., is not only not natural, but troublesome and too challenging for most people.
Yet this is what must happen if our churches are going to continue past one generation, and if they are going to be trans-generational. Younger people need to learn from older people, and older people need to realize their responsibility to raise up the next generation.
The Apostle Paul teaches that in Christ, we are created as “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15). There is a new culture called “Christian”. There is a new man called “Christian”. There is a new peer group called “Christian”.
If a man or woman or teen can see that the greatest oneness they have is not the cultural “sameness” of this present fleeting moment, but the eternal oneness of being one in Jesus, then suddenly that person’s “peer group” is no longer a sub-sub culture, but has grown to include the entire Body of Christ.
If a person can capture the idea that they have settled for the ease of living in a sub-sub culture peer group, but have missed the greater blessing of knowing the entire church, they just might be motivated enough to push past present cultural trends, and actually try to understand another Christian from a different sub-sub culture.
We all understand that the best evangelist for a teen is another teen. Kids come to church because their friends convince them to. Like attracts like.
I submit that if a pastor can convince a few teens that their peer group is the entire church, and not just the youth group, that those kids will begin to reach out to older people in the church. They will convince their friends to go with them as they do it. The same is true for every sub-sub culture peer group. All you need is one or two people from a sub-sub culture to break out and be convinced that their true peer group is actually the entire church.
Therefore, whereas understanding and reaching into sub-sub groups can be effective, and ought to be done, I suggest that we never sacrifice the unity of trans-generational fellowship for the sake of reaching out to a slice of society. Both are needed. We may reach people by focusing on a sub-sub culture, but we need to help them mature into seeing the entire Body of Christ as their peer group. Trans-generational love and nurturing must occur. Kids need to know that the old people want them, not that they simply hire a youth leader to reach them. Old people need to know that young people genuinely respect them for their accomplishments, and are willing to sit and listen to them.
Cultural awareness is important, but love always finds a way to navigate through cultural waters, and reach a kid, a single mom, or an elderly person. Cultural relevance is a tool of understanding, but love is the heart of the matter. Oneness in Christ is the banner that every Christian needs to ultimately see as the glue that not only builds the church, but holds it together, and pushes it forward into the future.
