Ask any veteran who has seen conflict – wartime is serious business. When people are engaged in conflict, some things don’t matter, and a few things become increasingly important. 

Selfishness and pettiness must be laid aside. There is an enemy to fight! Division and distraction can be deadly when the battle rages. This is war!

Perhaps God’s people need a reminder of this reality in these days of spiritual warfare.

In the dark days of World War II, the United States military published “Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain 1942.” In that document, the following insightful counsel was given:

1. This is no time to fight old wars.
2. Don’t be a show off.
3. Keep out of arguments.
4. It is always impolite to criticize your hosts.
5. It is militarily stupid to criticize your allies.
6. Remember, there’s a war on.

What practical wisdom for soldiers! What a personal example for those who would be good soldiers of Jesus Christ!

Wartime is not the time for unnecessary skirmishes with other believers. Lay aside anything – everything – that would cause us to turn our weapons on one another. In the words of an old general as he spoke to two captains who could not get along: “Gentlemen, yonder is the enemy!”

This is war. There will be plenty of conflict without us creating more. We need one another, and we all desperately need the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

One final word of encouragement for fellow soldiers…the battle is always hottest just before it is over. The enemy knows his time is short and has intensified the spiritual attacks. Guard the frontlines of your own heart and home. The church of Jesus Christ is still advancing against the gates of hell.

Yes, this is war…but we are on the winning side! Very soon, the Captain is coming, and the conflict will be over. Let’s live like it.

“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:3-4).

About Scott Pauley