Soldiers, Athletes, Farmers

          Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. (II Timothy 2:3-7)

          This is the problem I face. This is my definition of commitment. I think black and white. I live gray. I suspect most people live “grayer” lives than the want to, or think they do. Another problem with this is the fact that seemingly everyone else expects you to live this way. Employers ask for one-hundred and ten percent. Even when you aren’t at work, you’re supposed to be “at work.” Social organizations (including Church) want you to be there whenever the doors are open and be engaged on their behalf. Commitment – they all want emotional, active commitment. This is understandable. Organizations live or die based on what their membership does.

             God expects no less of us than they do, but life isn’t as simple as I think it needs to be to accomplish and maintain this level of commitment. It takes a lot of focus and concentration. Soldiers, athletes, and farmers tend to have teams of people who handle day-to-day affairs. In fact, military families are told that they should never even suggest that things aren’t perfectly happy at home.

             Such commitment is hard in black and white. It’s one of the challenges I’m facing now. Do I commit myself to the communities I’m living in for half of each year? What does that mean? One of the things I think it means is that I’m not allowed to run away when I face difficulty within a community. That’s my automatic response, and it’s the reason I had to set a rule for myself with writing that I am not permitted to stop writing until or unless someone I respect, who knows something about writing, reads what I’ve written and tells me to stop.

            This is what Paul has been talking about. He was Timothy’s mentor, and Timothy was not to give up on doing what he was doing – even if it meant suffering – until or unless Paul or God told him to. We need that outside, objective perspective because it’s too easy to run away otherwise. Soldiers have their commanding officers. Athletes have the judges and the rules, and hardworking farmers are the only kind of farmer who is going to get a good crop. It all comes down to keeping the main thing the main thing. That may require cutting back on other things that aren’t bad but get in the way of the thing to which you’ve committed yourself.