Doves On Distant Oaks

Like Roman Soldiers

Much has been written about the armor that the apostle Paul suggests we wear to face our enemy, the spiritual Evil ones {Ephesians 6:14-18}. Paul uses the metaphor of a Roman soldier because, of course, that's what a soldier wore during the times in which he lived. However, we can compare it to the modern soldier as well.

All soldiers wear combat gear and equipment depending on their need. Some carry the barest of essentials, designed to move quickly and strike quietly. Others are weighed down with a lot of equipment that, while it makes them move more slowly, brings more power to bear. Regardless, no one walks into a battle without some amount of battle-tested equipment, and neither should believers.

Yet, there is one piece of modern combat gear and equipment that cannot be related to the spiritual weapons that Paul described, that being camouflage. Our youngest son was in the Army during the fighting in Iraq. When we visited him at his home base at Fort Carson, we were amazed at how everything in our modern army was camouflaged—from uniforms to massive tanks. All are meant to hide among the terrain in which the fighting occurs.

On the other hand, the Roman soldier of Paul's time needed no camouflage. Everyone knew when Roman legions were coming. There was no need to camouflage their soldiers, mainly because they thought they were invincible. History tells us they were wrong, but in their arrogance they stuck to the straight-on approach. They had an attitude of "Here we are, come defeat us if you can."

The spiritual warrior requires no camouflage either, but not out of arrogance, but because of the source of their power. The Roman soldier depended on their own physical strength, their superior weapons, and their interlocking style of battle alignment. The Christian's strength comes directly from Christ.

In fact, those who camouflage their belief are not bearing fruits of the Spirit like God intends for us. We are often admonished to acknowledge our relationship with Christ, not to ignore or even to straddle the fence, but instead let our light shine in all glory.

"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38).

It's not that we don't believe we can be defeated ... many times we are when the world draws us away and we disconnect from where our faith resides. Our Lord is the one who cannot be defeated, not even the grave could conquer Him. He is the source of our confidence, why we need no camouflage. We need not strut out of arrogance, but we need not fear and hide from the battles we all must fight.

It's because of Christ within us that we can say, "Here we are, come defeat us if you can."

"Am I a God near at hand," says the Lord, "And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?" says the Lord; "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the Lord.

– Jeremiah 23:23-24

Keywords: Christ, Denial, Hidden, Power

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