STEEMCHURCH: A good soldier of Christ suffers hardships

If you have ever yearned to be a good soldier for the Lord Jesus Christ, you must be aware that the conditions or ability to be so are clearly expressed in the second letter to Timothy.

You, then, SUFFER PENALTIES AS A GOOD SOLDIER OF JESUS ​​CHRIST. 2 Timothy 2.

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The apostle Paul writes Timothy promptly that he must suffer hardships as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, implying that good soldiers are those who suffer during a service or mission in order to consummate it. In other words, if we long to be good soldiers for our Lord Jesus Christ, we must be willing to suffer the hardships that arise during the service or mission that He has entrusted to us, and to suffer all the adversities that this mission demands, be it bad things, afflictions, discomfort or discomfort. After this we will be able to be called good soldiers, as often happens in any army of soldiers who serve a country, where those who strive in battles giving their strength and courage for loyalty to their homeland, then are considered good soldiers, and that because of that delivery and good performance on the battlefield are decorated and publicly recognized with a medal to the value, because mentioned effort exposed them to death threats on several occasions, but in spite of this they maintained their fidelity to service for being convinced of a patriotic ideal.

Now, understanding that being a good soldier, involves participating in battles, and risking life to fulfill the mission entrusted, I ask: How sure are you of wanting to be a good soldier for the Lord Jesus Christ?

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If you could choose between: being a common soldier designated to simple tasks that do not have any risk or danger (like those that exist in the war), or a soldier designated to the war knowing all the risks that exist in the battlefield, Which one would you choose? I dare say that you are going to consider yourself a common and ordinary soldier rather than choose to suffer the hardships of a war soldier.

Really DO YOU WANT TO BE A GOOD SOLDIER? Are you willing to suffer hardships for the sake of serving the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you willing to be defrauded, mistreated, beaten, insulted, insulted, and so many other things that are not pleasing to the flesh?

Perhaps it can be attractive to long to be a good soldier when we observe the recognitions that usually reach, but we ignore all the suffering they suffered to achieve it.

Truly, as soldiers of Christ, we will always be exposed to different battles in this world, which will be presented in many different ways and in different circumstances of our lives, and that is where our aptitude for service will be measured. It will be shown if we are good soldiers or not.

DO YOU WANT TO BE A GOOD SOLDIER OF CHRIST?

This is the condition, suffer hardships for love of Him in order to consummate the mission, in the same way as all those good soldiers who served him in battles, suffering great adversities for love of Him, of which the scriptures give brief testimony highlighting their exploits as an example for us, bypassing their names in order to receive the glory of the Father on that day.

Hebrews 11
36 Others experienced vituperation and scourging, and more prisons and jails.
37 They were stoned, sawed, put to the test, killed with the edge of the sword; they went from here to there covered with skins of sheep and goats, poor, anguished, mistreated;
38 of which the world was not worthy; wandering through the deserts, through the mountains, through the caves and through the caverns of the earth.

It is more than clear that if we truly yearn to be good soldiers for our Lord Jesus Christ we must meet this condition, that of being predisposed to suffer hardships in all service for love of Him, so that He may be glorified in everything, beyond this represent our humiliation. Taking the example of our Lord Jesus Christ and follow their footsteps, because that is what it is to be Christians, to imitate Christ, and to have the same sense of humiliation, not doing anything with haughtiness, presumption, pride or arrogance, but imitating Christ in everything, not seeking earthly glory, but He is glorified in everything.

1 ° Pedro 4
1 Since Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, YOU ALSO GOT THEM OF THE SAME THOUGHT; for he who has suffered in the flesh, finished with sin.

Finally, in our lives there will be storms, inside the church, in our homes, and they will not be beautiful, but let's not forget that Jesus is with us, he is in the boat, He is always in charge in all battles, we only have to approach him confidently to be instructed, and wait only for his orders. The boat in which the disciples were at that time, was sinking, was full of water, it seemed that there was nothing more to do, that any attempt to save it was useless, but the Lord Jesus who was sleeping, once awake, in a matter of seconds I solve the whole problem, because they ignored that He is Lord of all creation, and therefore all obey Him.

My brethren, He is worthy of having only good soldiers in His army, servants armed with courage willing to suffer all the penalties that are necessary to consummate all work and glorify their Lord and King.

SO: YOU SUFFER PENALTIES AS A GOOD SOLDIER OF JESUS ​​CHRIST.