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Wings of Light

Featured Writer:  Diana Roth

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A Soldier's Mission

While taking an employment law class recently, I read an interesting case involving a rabbi in the Air Force who insisted on wearing his yarmulke, or prayer cap, at all times, going so far as to wear it under his official service cap.  His trouble began while testifying in a court martial case.  Upon taking the stand, he had removed his service cap as regulations demanded the removal of service caps inside buildings, but he refused to remove his yarmulke as well.  As a result of this violation, the rabbi eventually lost his position within the Air Force and proceeded to sue the Secretary of Defense claiming his First Amendment rights had been violated.  This case made it to the Supreme Court, however, the court ruled against the rabbi. 

My reason for sharing this story is not to discuss religious freedom under the First Amendment, but to point out a wonderful object lesson for Christians revealed in the following words from Judge Rehnquist’s brief on the case: 
“[t]o accomplish its mission the military must foster instinctive obedience, unity, commitment, and esprit de corps.  The essence of military service ‘is the subordination of the desires and interests of the individual to the needs of the service…[t]he inescapable demands of military discipline and obedience to orders cannot be taught on battlefields; the habit of immediate compliance
with military procedures and orders must be virtually reflex with no time for debate or reflection.” 

The apostle Paul wrote, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier” 
(II Tim. 2:3-4).  If the United States Armed Services expects men and women to align their interests with those of the service, and if obedience to orders is to be a trained reflex, then what must our Lord Jesus Christ expect from His soldiers? 

Regarding instant obedience to Christ, let me share a personal example of an incident that happened one sweltering day last summer.  I carpool downtown each morning and then walk two blocks to my office.  While walking in one day, I noticed a young woman sitting on a bench near my office.  Because there is a bus station across the street from where I work, it is not uncommon to see travelers hanging out on that corner.  At lunchtime, I decided to get some Chinese takeout and bring it back to the office.  As I headed down the street, I noticed that young woman still sitting on the bench, and I felt an urgency to check on her well-being, maybe buy her lunch, but I fought the urgency and returned my focus to purchasing a delicious meal of Sesame Chicken for myself.  When I finally got my food back to the office dining room, I could not get the young woman out of my head – it was a most miserable meal.  I did not hear an audible voice, but I had a very persistent urging to buy her a Diet Coke and give her a gospel tract.  I finally said, “Okay, LORD, I’ll do it,” bought the Coke, and proceeded back out into the heat.  When approaching her, I told her that I had noticed her sitting on that bench when I came into work that morning, and asked if there was something I could do to help.  She told me that she was traveling and needed some more money to get a bus ticket to visit her family in a town 45 minutes away.  I gave her the drink and whatever cash I had on me at the time.  Most importantly, I gave her the gospel tract and told her, “Here’s something to read on your trip.”  She seemed most grateful and looked as though she would begin crying, so I quickly walked away to avoid causing her embarrassment.  Afterward, I begged the LORD to lead her to actually reading that tract and to save her soul from hell. 

Since this incident, I have often wondered what might have happened if I had obeyed the Holy Spirit’s urging the first time I was aware of it.  Had I taken her to lunch and given her a full witness of God’s grace in my life, might she have accepted Christ’s gift of salvation that very day?  Someday I’ll know the answer to that question, but for now, I use this lesson to remind me that delayed obedience can be very costly – it may even cost a precious, eternal soul.