When I was deployed to Iraq, I had to spend a few weeks in
Kuwait; a small country along the Persian Gulf.
It has always perplexed me that Kuwait is still categorized as a “combat
zone” even though it doesn’t have any combat.
Soldiers don’t wear body armor, don’t travel in armored vehicles, and sip cool beverages while lounging in olympic sized swimming pools. While simultaneously, soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan are in the fight for their lives, working in hot, sand environments, and constantly remaining on edge from an imminent attack. Despite this drastic difference, Kuwait continues to be classified under the same dangerous title that these true combat zones receive.
So why is Kuwait categorized as a combat zone? The answer may surprise you. It's not because it
currently has combat, but because it used
to have combat.
On to the point. I increasingly sense that the church in America considers itself to be a hostile combat zone, when in reality it is just a former combat zone.
We tell ourselves that we’re in the fight, but then strut
around with weapon in hand and not an enemy in sight.
We tell each other that we are willing to give up everything
for our faith, but even this selfless offer is a thin veneer of piety, for the
threat of losing everything is not even a possibility.
We sit, relaxing in a cold pool playing Marco Polo, while
our brothers and sisters stand alert on the front lines in 120 degree heat and
not a cool drop in sight.
We consider ourselves a Soldier, while never fulfilling the mission
we have been trained to accomplish.
A few thoughts from Blaise Pascal (1623-1662):
“Men only entered then into the Church after great labors
and long desires; they find their way into it now without any trouble, without
any care, and without labor.”
“It was necessary formerly to forsake the world in order to
be received into the Church; whilst men enter now into the Church at the same
time as into the world.”
“As men have been made Christians without having been instructed, they believe that they can remain Christians without seeking instruction…”
And so it hit me this New Year's, that even though I may think I am in the fight, I may actually be sitting comfortably in a former combat zone carrying around a weapon that's not loaded, leaving my body armor under my bunk, and not expecting to see the enemy at any moment.
It's time to get into the battle Christian. It's time to put on the full armor of God and fight our enemy, who seeks to destroy us every day. It's time to join our brothers and sisters on the front lines and unite under the banner of Christ: one team, one enemy, one mission.
"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."
1 Peter 5:8
