Becoming the mighty warriors of God
Personally, I’ve heard this word “warrior” being mentioned a lot regarding one’s spiritual life with a limited understanding of what that means. But what does it mean to be a warrior of God?
It’s clearly not to be understood in a literal sense; not every Christian is called to join the military per se. But we are called nonetheless to be mighty warriors of God. This week, we dive into 1 Chronicles 11:10-25 where we learn from David’s mighty warriors how we can also fight for our God. The passage recounts the stories of David’s mighty warriors who served under David’s kingship, but understanding it in a modern concept can be difficult.
To understand, we draw parallels between the mighty warriors of David and the modern church.
We serve a King worth fighting for.
Much like the warriors in this passage, being a warrior implies some sort of conflict or confrontation. While our battles aren’t on a physical battlefield, we too have enemies that oppose our King Jesus. Much like David’s warriors who fought valiantly as they believed their king was worth fighting for, fighting for our King should be met with the same attitude. In a practical sense, that means trying to see that the church, the people who have yet to know Christ, and the kingdom are all worth fighting for.
We help our King through loyalty.
David desired the 12 tribes of Israel to be united to establish his kingdom. Note that all these warriors came from the different tribes of Israel, but were eventually unified under David’s kingship. And similarly, the church - composed of people with different ethnicities, upbringings, worldviews, etc. - is unified by their loyalty and dedication to our king, king Jesus. Though the almighty God might not need our help, Jesus calls and desires for us, his followers, to be united despite our differences:
““My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.””
Like David’s warriors, our unity comes from our common loyalty to Jesus, our King. As his followers, we seek to further glorify Him.
We serve the coming King.
It’s no secret that as followers of Christ we faithfully await for his return. When that time comes, we will celebrate Jesus’ return and his reign in new Heaven and new Earth, much like the celebration in 1 Chronicles 12:38-40 where the Israelites celebrated the unification and reign of David’s kingdom. However, we are still on Earth (duh) and so we still have to fight against evil spirits and to unite God’s people for the kingdom. So, let’s continue to fight and put our priorities in perspective.
Lord God,
We thank you for the grace that you’ve gifted us. We thank you that you’ve given us your Word that has modeled to us how to fight for you like David’s mighty warriors. We pray that you would help us devote ourselves to your cause and unite in loyalty for you.
I pray this in your mighty name Jesus,
Amen.