SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/12/2025 8:20 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1
“The Soldier”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Timothy
2:3-4
Message of the verses: “3 Suffer hardship
with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active
service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may
please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”
I did not get too far in this section as I had other
things to write about and therefore I will begin to write about these verses in
today’s SD.
What
we find here is the second figure that Paul uses to illustrate the
characteristics of a strong spiritual life and that is of a soldier. Paul writes the following in the book of
Ephesians near the end of that letter as he writes “Be strong in the Lord, and
in the strength of His might.” After that statement we have what could be
called the famous section of Ephesians that speaks of putting on the Spiritual
Armor: “11 Put on the full armor of God,
so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces
of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor
of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done
everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS
WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15 and having shod
YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of
faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the
evil one. 17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God. 18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in
the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and
petition for all the saints.” Paul
admonished believers at Corinth about the offensive side of that battle,
saying, “Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for
the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the
destruction of fortresses” (2 Cor. 10:2-4).
Notice that Paul not only calls on Timothy to serve
the Lord as a soldier, but as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. MacArthur adds “A spiritual Christian does
not simply do minimum duty for his Lord, Christ Jesus, but serves Him with
everything he is and has.”
Now
the first mark of a good soldier which Paul mentions is the willingness to
suffer hardship. Paul adds with me, as
he gives assurance that he would not ask anything of Timothy that he himself
was not doing or willing to do. MacArthur
writes “Sukakopatheo (suffer hardship
with) is a compound verb that means to suffer evil or pain along with someone
else. One scholar translates the phrase,
‘take one’s share of rough treatment.’ With
does not represent a separate Greek preposition but is a part (sun) of the verb. Me is only implied in
the Greek, the context indicating that Paul was speaking of himself.”
I
am going to end this SD here and Lord willing pick up with what I believe is a
very important paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary as I begin looking more
closely at what it means to be a soldier in my next SD.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have to say that this section on being a
soldier is very much needed for me to understand in my life at this particular
time.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: I think that I need to go back to putting on
the Spiritual Armor each day as I use to.
1/12/2025 8:39 AM
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