On the Outside Looking In

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 

1Timothy 6:12

Tomorrow is Veterans Day. That means different things to different people. For me, it’s a bittersweet observance. I am genuinely proud to have been a part of our country’s armed forces. Though it’s been fifty years, and my memory is not what it once was, I still remember the names and faces of the men and women with whom I served. I remember all the aluminum boxes that I helped ship home to grieving families. And I remember the reception, those that paid the ultimate price, and those of us who gave a little received.

Every Tuesday I meet with men who have shared with me the unique kinship of the uniform. We didn’t serve together or even in the same branch of service, but there is an invisible bond there that is undeniable. We were called. We answered. It cost us a bit of ourselves. We will never be the same.

I hope this sounds familiar to Christians. We have all been called by God, but only those who answered have been privileged to put on Christ. If we have done our duty, that has cost us, and it is certain we will never be the same. As soldiers of the Cross, we share a bond of kinship.

It doesn’t matter what church we go to, whether we read the King James Version or the New International Version. It doesn’t matter if we served one day or fifty years, we are able to relate to that one life altering experience only Christians share. We are brothers and sisters in arms battling for the eternal lives of those who despise us for daring to do so.

We enter into spiritual warfare knowing in advance that we won’t be thanked, we won’t be appreciated, and we won’t be loved—except by God. We have but one reward in mind—to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Those lining parade routes tomorrow come to honor veterans. It is a sincere honor and is appreciated by the veterans marching by. But it is inescapably the honor of those on the outside looking in. The only way to truly know what it’s like to be a veteran is to be one.

Likewise, the only way to know Christianity is to be a Christian. All the reading, and studying, all the going to churches and listening to the gospel cannot convey the experience. Christianity is an all-volunteer force. You must enlist of your own accord. So, if Christians seem to share something that you don’t, the reason is not elitism, it’s brotherhood. You don’t have to be on the outside looking in. You’re welcome to join the family any time you like.

Welcome home.