My Battalion Commander has tasked me with putting out a 'Word of the Day" via email everyday to keep people encouraged, focused, and positive. I often put out something from Scripture or something specifically on leadership. Yesterday I put out this quote from Steven Pressfield's book Gates of Fire which was the basis for the movie "300" - telling the story of the great Spartan stand against the Persians. This quote is to be from an older Spartan warrior to a younger one. (If you've seen the movie, imagine the narrator's voice reading this quote).
"Never forget, Alexandros, that this flesh, this body, does not belong to us. Thank God it doesn't. If I thought this stuff was mine, I could not advance a pace into the face of the enemy. But it is not ours, my friend. It belongs to the gods, and to our children, our fathers and mothers, and those yet unborn. It belongs to the city [Sparta] which gives us all we have and demands no less in requital."
The reason I put out this quote was that recently I've talked with a lot of Soldiers who are complaining about how uncomfortable things are here. They aren't sure if their reward (paycheck) is worth all of this they have to go through.
They are in it only for themselves.
See, when we're in it for ourselves, we weigh the measure of discomfort against the reward we anticipate for ourselves. But the above quote goes way beyond being in it for ourselves. The warrior was communicating that we are part of something so much bigger than just us - what we do, we do for God, and for our country, and those of our nation even still unborn. See, when you're in it for a much greater cause, then frankly the hardships we go through don't seem all that hard. We're in it for something much greater than ourselves.
And so it is with our Christan lives.
So many decisions we make are made on the basis of 'What's in it for me?' But that's not really the life of the follower of Christ. Actually, it' much more like that of a warrior. Listen to that same quote with just a few words changed:
"Never forget, my friend, that this flesh, this body, does not belong to us. Thank God it doesn't. If I thought this stuff was mine, I would not risk, or step out in faith - into the face of the enemy. But it is not ours, my friend. It belongs to God, and to our families, and to our brothers and sisters in the Kingom of God. It belongs to our Creator who gives us all we have and demands no less in requital."
That definitely gives a different perspective on what we do, what we complain about, and who we're in it for.
So...
Who are you in it for?
