A Call for Christians to Battle
I just finished watching the movie "The Last Samari". This film, starring Tom Cruise, is the story of an American captain who is hired to train a Japanese army in modern methods of warfare. In the middle of a battle he is captured by the enemy, an army of samari warriors. He is taken to their village and learns the ways of a samari and eventually joins their cause. One key theme throughout the movie is the custom of the samari to take their own life rather than have them die in shame. Just before the last battle, Tom Cruise and the leader of the samaris converse about dying in battle and both are excited to fight until their very last breath.
Then I walked past some people watching "Band of Brothers". The clip I saw was a guy, who had just been shot, lying on a stretcher and yelling, "I don't want to die!" The soldiers around him staring in sadness at a man who they think died earlier than he should have and for a cause that was worthless.
As I was watching the first movie, I was thinking of the implications it had to the Christian life. I was then reminded of those implications as I watched the "Band of Brothers" clip. The Christian is called to "take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 10:16 that they are going out as sheep among wolves. In 2Corinthians 11, Paul tells of all that he has gone through for Christ's sake. Then he says in Philippians 1:21,
"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Oh how often Christians these days are like the solider dying in WWII. We say that we will do anything for Jesus, and yet some persecution starts to get heated and cry out to God, "Why am I going through this, I don't deserve this! Please save me from this!" I believe God's Word says differently. Paul said that he can rejoice because he wants Christ glorified whether in life or death. How can he rejoice in his death? I believe he understood what it meant to be a Christian.
May we be like the samarai, never giving up, giving our all, knowing full well that our lives will be taken, but doing it with pride and joy. If pagans can see how it is against all logic and yet completely sain to give your life for a cause, how much more believers who have the Son of God as our Fearless Leader in battle. We must persevere to the end. We should not, cannot, will not fear man, but the one who can kill not just the body, but the soul as well. Our fear does not come from seeing that we are out-numbered or the hateful looks of the enemy, but from seeing the Jealous God bestowing grace upon us.
I encourage you all to stand firm. There are many things the Christian is called to do that might seem embarassing or frightning, but that is but a small discomfort that we take for the sake of Christ. Think about it. We never really have pain when we face persecution, all it is, most of the time, is either discomfort, or a hit on our pride. Submit yourselves to Christ your commander, and go out on the battlefield never giving up, until your death. May you bleed with faithful zeal for Jesus' name until the your life is required of you.
