“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.”
(Joh 15:13-17 NKJV)
By the time Christ gave His life for ours, he had not only saved our souls, but showed us the path of being His disciple. As Chaplains, you are called to live your life not only receiving the grace of our Lord, but for His grace to be given through you. It is a calling to a prayerfully led life where God’s plan and design leads the way, not our own. No amount of material preparation will make you a servant of God, but a life led in devotion, discipleship, service to others, and a intimate relationship with Christ is the narrow path. Now more than ever we must cling to these truths, and embody them no matter what the worldly powers and principalities may think or do. This means loving and praying for our enemies as much as our loved ones and fellow Christians; even when they persecute our church. They are in need of Christ’s redemption, their hearts are made in the image of God, just as ours. There is no greater power in this world than Christ’s love, so learn to be His instrument above all other skills. From this place flows every other good thing. Here is such a one:
Read here: Medal of Honor Recipient Army Chaplain (Capt.) Emil J. Kapaun
and a thought from Dietrich Bonhoeffer
If anyone knows about living in a time of evil and oppression, it’s Dietrich Bonhoeffer (look up his biography or documentary movie if you don’t know who he is; prepare to be moved). From his recently published collected works A Testament to Freedom:
“This commandment, that we should love our enemies and forgo revenge, will grow even more urgent in the holy struggle which lies before us and in which we partly have already been engaged for years. In it love and hate engage in mortal combat. It is the urgent duty of every Christian soul to prepare itself for it. The time is coming when the confession of the living God will incur not only the hatred and the fury of the world, for on the whole it has come to that already, but complete ostracism from “human society” as they call it. The Christians will be hounded from place to place, subjected to physical assault, maltreatment, and death of every kind. We are approaching an age of widespread persecution. Therein lies the true significance of all the movements and conflicts of our age. Our adversaries seek to root out the Christian Church and the Christian faith because they cannot live side by side with us, because they see in every word we utter and every deed we do, even when they are not specifically directed against them, a condemnation of their own words and deeds. They are not far wrong.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer; written circa late 1930’s during the rise of Hitler and the 3rd Reich.
Sons Of Thunder Signal Corps Ministry 