Captain Christian?

Last week I wrote about how a private doesn’t get to second-guess the officers in an army. The same way, a Christian doesn’t get to pick and choose which of Jesus’ orders to follow and which can be safely ignored.

Today I’m writing to the people who think they’re being ignored by Christ.

Captain Christian, why do you think you should hear from Major Believer each and every day? You’re an officer, so act like one. You’ve been given your orders to assault the enemy and have wide latitude on how to do that. “Go take that hill,” Major Believer said. “You figure it out.”

If a captain is doing what he’s supposed to be doing (let’s not get caught up in gender roles here), why would a major pick up the phone to complain? Do you need a pat on the head every day? If so, you aren’t qualified to be Captain Christian.

When Jesus sent out the seventy-two (in pairs), He didn’t have a cell phone to keep in touch. No doubt those disciples prayed more than once while on their mission. They may have gotten indications of how to proceed in “this” circumstance, or in “that” one, but Jesus wasn’t holding their hands.

“Go. Preach the Good News.” Field Marshal Jesus knew the only way for his officers to gain confidence was to face the tough situations and overcome. If they told someone the Good News and that someone didn’t believe, do you think the two disciples ran back to Jesus and cried? NO! They were officers, not dumb grunts. They were expected to stand up to rejection like the officers they were.

I’ve heard Mother Teresa felt like in the final decades of her life she hadn’t heard from God. Why would a five star general expect to have the field marshal give her a daily call?

Are you in the spiritual desert? Maybe that means you’re in OCS - Officer Candidate School. Now you have to decide: run crying back to another officer, or suck it up and be worthy of the butterbar about to be put on your lapels.