Pilgrim Soldier

My daughter, Sian, is almost 2¾ and is learning new words almost every moment of every day. One of her favourite phrases at the moment is “It’s too easy!” when in actual fact she means “It’s too hard!” For some reason she just can’t seem to fix the word in her head and it always comes out wrong.

Sometimes I suspect that we are too quick to say that something God wants us to do is “too hard”. I look at the numbers of people who are going into training to be Salvation Army officers and find it difficult to believe that God isn’t calling more into officership. I think back to a corps I visited over the summer and wonder why in a congregation of around 40-50 people everyone expects the officer to do everything, saying they are too old or too busy to lead. I look at the corps I’ve served in and am amazed at how many people are content simply to come to the corps but not take any responsibility and the same few people do everything!

Is it that God has stopped speaking to people? Is He really content with a few people in each corps/church who end up working themselves into the ground so that in the end nothing gets done? Somehow I don’t think so!

Is it then that we have failed in our teaching? Are we actually growing disciples in our congregations or are we simply providing a nice environment for people to come to for a few hours each week? I suspect this is a big part of the problem.

So many people miss out on the privilege of service that is part of being a disciple. We fail so often to live in the promise of Jesus for abundant life (John 10:10) and instead settle for a life of faith that is only a shadow of what God has promised us.