This is a personal thought that came to me years ago after my Dad and I went to visit my first cousin, shortly after receiving his first star as a General in the United States Marine Corps. He was being recognized and promoted to the position of Commanding Officer at Paris Island, which is the Boot Camp for all incoming Marine Recruits east of the Mississippi River.
I made the mistake of asking Jerry the question of how many Soldiers there were on the base? His answer was harsh, but merited, “ZERO, there’s _x__ Marines and 1500 Want-a-Be’s”! He made it very clear that those 1500 recruits in that current 13-week training period were not Marines until they proved they had the physical and mental capability to complete Boot Camp!
He went on to share how hard it was to become a Marine and make it through Boot Camp! He told us how every month some Congress Man or Women, or other high-ranking politician or dignitary, would visit the base to see what Boot Camp was all about. He indicated that most of those visiting would express a degree of dissatisfaction with how cruel and inhuman they were treating the recruits! My Dad kind of chimed in a little of the same sentiment after Jerry told us he was in the process of court-martialing a Marine recruiter that had sent him an inferior candidate, someone he felt was unworthy or incapable of ever meeting the standards necessary to become a Marine, and strongly pronounced judgement: “that any Officer willing to lower the Corps standards to that degree, didn’t deserve to wear the uniform.”
Being a career psychologist, my dad quested such a harsh response and Jerry’s neck flushed red as he confronted my dad and said, “Gene, you’re as blind as those politicians that don’t get it! What do you think these recruits are being trained to do?” Jerry then went on to answer his own question, and basically said they were being trained to endure the worst possible human conditions imaginable and be prepared to go into a mission where they would have to kill or be killed, and if necessary, willingly sacrifice their life for the mission at hand and for those serving beside them! He had a few other choice words, but Dad and I got the message!
It was later as I was thinking thru that reality, that I came to understand that our life here as Christians is not so different! We must endure whatever comes our way and be willing to sacrifice our life for those serving alongside us. It’s not about us, it’s about the mission we have in choosing to serve God and those others we come in contact with here in this life, so that we might one day be with His Son in Heaven, alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ, and those others we help bring along with us.
We are not promised Heaven until we make it thru this life on earth, what I have choose to call “Boot Camp”, and hope to write a book about someday by that same title. We are not promised that this life will be easy or just, but the very opposite! Christ himself said, “if they persecute me, they will also persecute you:” But, the Bible also promises that one day, if we endure to the end, that we will see what “Eye has not seen”, hear what “Ear has not heard”, and experience what we cannot even imagine that awaits those who have chosen to follow Christ, in spite of the injustices we have to face in this life.
Life is never going to be easy, or fair, or just, because we live in a corrupt world were sin has taken its toll, but one day we will be in a place where there will be justice for all of those who have chosen to follow Christ, that have accepted his sacrifice, invited Him to be their personal Savior, and are resolute in their faith and commitment to complete this present “Boot Camp”, and endure to the end.
I know this sounds a little harsh, maybe even scary, but remember that we also have the promise that God will never forsake us and will never let us be tempted beyond what we can endure, and along with the trials, temptations, and injustices that we all have to face from time to time in this life, there are also the Blessings that come to those who follow Him, along with the knowledge that one day we will be with Christ forever, in a place where there will be no more injustices, no more pain and suffering, no more sickness, and no more death.
I read a quote just the other day from an author who basically said that in light of eternity, we have about 5 seconds to accomplish whatever we can for the Kingdom, so the prayer that I often pray for myself is that I might “finish well” and use whatever time I have remaining for more than seeking comfort and pleasure. I pray the same for you.
RH