Oct 23 Jeremiah 49:7-39, Jeremiah 50:1-10 2 Timothy 2 Proverbs 25:21-28, Proverbs 26:1-2
2 Tim 2:3-4
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
It’s a hard one this… but it should make us question how we spend our time and what our focus is in life. What is it we pursue? A solider is deployed to region for a purpose – and he keeps focused on that purpose.
It’s easy to misread this and come down hard on the idea of downtime, or any secular interests, hobbies etc. This isn’t a prohibition on getting involved with the secular world for business or pleasure.
A Roman solider (which is the example Paul would be using) was posted to a land, and over everything else he was there to represent Rome. They would have downtime, but they never confused themselves with the local culture. You didn’t go native – you were a representative of Rome. You brought Rome’s culture with you, not the other way around.
And is must be the same for us and heaven’s culture. We don’t “go native” in the world and get lost in the pursuits of everyone else. We don’t have the same value system. First and foremost we are on the King’s business and that must take priority above everything else.
When the culture around you comes in to convict with the culture of heaven, there must be no doubt to which you belong. Your aim is to please the one who enlisted you.
