July 2010

We have just finished celebrating the fourth of July. If you noticed there is always a lot of emphasis on the American soldier during these celebrations.  When General MacArthur returned to America after fourteen years abroad, he made a speech to the American Congress.  This may be one of the finest and most dramatic speeches ever presented by a soldier to our Congress. At the end of General MacArthur’s speech he quoted an old song of the Army, “Old Soldiers Never Die”.

I want to tell you about another old soldier, an old soldier of the Cross.  His name is Paul. We meet him in II Timothy (4: 6-8), as he is coming down toward the end of his way and he says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto them also that love His appearing.”  Paul eventually met the executioner and was executed and they pronounced him dead.  But his soul, his spirit, the real Paul would be living on forever and ever with the Christ whom he had loved.  Yes, it is true that old soldiers of the Cross never die.

When we think of suffering, maybe we should remember Paul. II Corinthians (11: 23) gives us an account of some of Paul’s suffering.  “In stripes above measure in prisons more frequent, in death oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.  Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a day and a night I have been in the deep; in journeying often, in peril of water, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness.  Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” 

Have we ever suffered anything for Christ?  Have we ever made a sacrifice for Him?  Paul’s life was marked by the highest loyalty to his great Commander in Chief, the Lord Jesus Christ.  At the end of the way, Paul was able to say: “I have fought the good fight.”  Will we be able to say that, too, if we have lived our best for Christ?

Some day we will do our last day’s work. Some day we will have our last night’s sleep.  Some day we will endure the last pain and face the last disappointment.  Are you now having difficult times?  Is your body afflicted? Have your friends forsaken you? Are you experiencing financial worries?  Then just keep on. Trust the Lord; do the best you can and He will see you through and bring you home at last.

Remember what Paul said: “There is a crown awaiting you”.  Paul did not say the crown was exclusively for him...”Not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing”. 

Yes, All Things Work To The Good, There Is A God In Heaven, and There Is A Crown Waiting For Old Soldiers Of The Cross. And this just happens to be The Way I See It.

iHs

Griff