søndag 5. februar 2017

To want to do the will of the commander

Paul takes the ‘soldier-allegory’ one step further:
No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.
2 Tim 2:4
Throughout my life as a soldier, I have lived in the tension between being ‘entangled in civilian affairs’ and the awareness of the fact that the will of the commander can drown in all the pending 'musts' in my life. The tension has increased proportionally with increased responsibility. In many of the letters Paul wrote, he focused on the importance of understanding the Lord's will (1). When he did his farewell speech to the local leaders of the church at Ephesus, he said:
I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
Acts 20:27
How a soldier gets an insight into the “will of the commander”, Paul described in this way:
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Philippians 2:12-13
If I give the Holy Spirit access to my life, the mysterious miracle is that I actually want to do that which is God's good will. It is a response of love and not a fulfillment of a duty requirement (2). It is liberation contrary to slavery under the law.

'Manna' for today:

It is my desire to do the commander’s will
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(1) See e.g. Col 1:9 and Phil 1:9-11
(2) See Tomas Sjödin’s quote in “On the arena of faith”

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