Till We Are Home

Recently, my son and I watched the Mel Gibson movie, We Were Soldiers, a war-time movie based on the book with the same name (pretty much) about an early battle in the Vietnam War between a battalion of US Army Calvary soldiers and a much larger North Vietnamese force. If you haven’t seen the movie or read the book, it is a stunning portrayal of realities of war and the lives of those who fight them. 

Among the many takeaways from this story, one is the brotherhood amidst the US Army soldiers as they were overwhelmed by the enemy forces. On several fronts, the US soldiers are quickly surrounded and find spots to honker down in together for the duration of the battle on that line. During these offensives as well as the general battle ongoing throughout the movie, the US soldiers quickly find that in the middle of a foreign land, surrounded by an enemy bent on destroying them, and fighting just to survive, the soldiers only have each other.

I don’t think the church is much different.

Look at what Peter says to his audience throughout his letter to them in 1 Peter. He writes to a people surrounded by those who are persecuting and causing them great suffering, and in the midst of their suffering, Peter writes several things such as:

1 Pet 1:22, “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,”

1 Pet 2:5, “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood,”

1 Pet 2:17, “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”

1 Pet 3:8, “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.”

1 Pet 4:8-10, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace,”

The Christians that Peter was writing to were “behind enemy lines”, they were being persecuted for their faith and suffering as a result. Peter encourages them in many ways, but one of these major paths of encouragement is to love your brothers and sisters in Christ. We have the Lord as our Savior, as our God, our very present help in times of trouble (Ps 46:1), but God has gifted us as well with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to live life together.

Because, at the end of the day, all we have is each other in this world. 

Those soldiers came together from all walks of life, from all over the country, from varied interests and desires and goals and families and backgrounds. Yet, those differences did not divide them or make them form smaller groups to gravitate toward; no, on the battlefield, they only saw themselves as one unit…all they had was each other when the bullets started flying.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the bullets are flying today in our own lives. I am not minimizing the atrocities of war…I have great respect for soldiers and the military and am grateful for the sacrifices made. So when I speak of comparisons such as this, I am not denigrating what soldiers face on battlefields; however, the Bible presents a similar picture in Scripture of the war we face as believers while on earth. 

Let’s not forget, then, that when the bullets of sin and the world and the devil fly, that we can run to our Savior as our refuge with each other. May the Lord give us eyes to see that, on this earth, all we have is each other. 

So put away our disputes.

Cast off the flippant views and remarks and responses we have toward the church.

Open your eyes to the reality that all we have is each other in this fight, in this suffering, when hard providences come, or the arrows and fiery darts of the enemy are flung our way. Honker down with one another during the waves of the enemy. Get each other’s six…

Till we are home…