You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 2:3 (NKJV)
Hardship is strict discipline. A first class soldier is hardship hardened. He has gone through strict discipline.
A true soldier engaged in warfare doesn’t entangle himself with the affairs of civilian life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 2 Timothy 2:4.
Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ has enlisted us in His army. As true first class soldiers of the Lord our aim and preoccupation in Life should therefore be to serve and please Him.
We shouldn’t serve or please the world or the flesh. This is where hardship or discipline comes in.
Choosing to do what the Lord desires is a discipline or a hardship because it goes against what we would naturally, mentally, physically want to do.
What God wants us to do goes against what’s trending and popular in the world. To follow Christ is to go against what’s politically, culturally or religiously correct.
When the world says I will do to you as you have done to me our Master says forgive those who wrong you, overcome evil with good.
When the natural human mind says collecting and hoarding is how to increase and have more our Lord says releasing and giving is how to overflow and live in abundance. This goes against our natural human inclination and that’s why it’s a discipline to be trained in, a hardship to be endured.
Choose to go the Way of the Master who enlisted you in His mighty force. Choose hardship, choose strict discipline and you will stand out as a true first class soldier serving and pleasing the Lord.
