parade

"Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 2:3)

To be a soldier means getting into battle, enduring hardship, even risking your life.  Christianity isn't lived in a vacuum. There are struggles and conflicts.  The hymn, "Onward Christian Soldiers," reflects the fact that we must fight when demonic forces attack us in life. A Christian must be willing to do spiritual battle for Christ. That's a high cost.

Soren Kierkegaard said that there are a lot of "Parade-Ground Christians" who wear the uniforms of Christianity, but few who are willing to do battle for Christ and his kingdom. When it comes to doing battle for the Lord, too many church members are just "sitting on the premises" instead of "standing on the promises" of God.

Martin Luther once said, "A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing."  We are called to be soldiers - to fight the good fight, to endure hardship like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  We must ask ourselves, are we just parade-ground Christians who look good, but never actually go into battle or are we true Christian soldiers, in full battle gear (Ephesians 6:13-18), daily fighting the "good fight" of the gospel, ready to risk it all, ready to "endure hardship like a good soldier of Christ Jesus"?