The Heart of the Soldier

“Life is war,” John Piper writes. “It is not only that, but it is that.”¹ We may not be dodging bullets or drone strikes—though we are often one degree of relationship away from someone who is. But all of us do live in a day-to-day arena of desperate struggle.

The key to this war is acknowledging that the most strategic battle is the one for our own hearts. Here we face a two-front war.

On the one front, we battle to trust the One who is true, and on the other front, we battle to accurately discern what is before us. It’s hard to aim correctly without accurate intel, and it’s even harder if we don’t trust the One giving us commands. The essence is a battle of hope versus despair. Of love versus fear. Of “Thy will be done” versus “my will be done.”

Consider how the soldier trains, and you, too, will be ready for the battles facing you. The soldier:

• hurries up and waits
• gives himself to routine
• obeys unconditionally

Hurry up and Wait

“Hurry up and wait” is a standard proverb of the soldier. It might be tongue-in-cheek, but it still describes a basic reality: We practice personal diligence preparing for the moments of opportunity and affliction. We get ready for go-time. We organize to mobilize. 

So, how do we “hurry up” at the heart level? We pray now. We forgive now. We persevere now. And by so doing, we position ourselves for the best path through whatever is beyond our control, be it good or evil. It is a form of waiting on the Lord, imparting strength for what’s ahead. 

Daily Routines

Routine is the lion’s share of the soldier’s life. Why? Because in the hour of battle, no one has time to learn. No one has the luxury of a controlled atmosphere. Few can see clearly in the fog of war. Therefore, the soldier must be wired to function smoothly—automatically, in fact—when hell breaks loose. Only then is there margin to discern and decide.

If life is indeed that perilous, how do we prevail? The best way to navigate is to automate. Live a life where your morning routine, your evening routine, the way you start up work, and the way you shut it down are sequential and repetitive.² If you do this, you create margin for clear thinking, calm action, and new insights for the battles you face. You may even discover (unless your routines are a form of hiding) a better communion with the Holy Spirit. 

Unconditional Obedience

A soldier takes an oath of absolute obedience. He cuts off self-will. He coordinates with the others in his unit. He does what he is told. This is a real death, the death of “my will be done” in favor of “thy will be done,” and in this way the soldier “dies before he dies.”³ 

But consider the internal freedom such a disposition gives him; he is freed up to be brave, and brave people make better soldiers, and better soldiers tend to win battles or at least make the enemy pay dearly before they go down.⁴ It is the kind of obedience that is clothed in honor, not servitude. That is why a soldier who obeys receives an “honorable discharge.”

Even the trainers of Seal Team 6, the elite of the Navy Seals, know this. When choosing the members of the team, they favor the candidates with medium-range performance and high trust over the superstar performers with low trust from others. Why? Because superstars tend to insist on their own will, thereby endangering everyone else. Therefore the trainers prefer a trusted person with less stellar skills to an ultra-skilled warrior who won’t listen.⁵

Conclusion

There are limits to the soldier analogy, for earthly commanders are prone to earthly weaknesses, while our Commander, who is also our Father and Redeemer, has tasted death and conquered it for our sake. And our earthly soldiering may land us a medal, but the One we follow offers a reward that reveals He has loved us all along, even before we were born. 

The evil one, a broken world, and our own fallen nature resist this destiny, but it is ours for the taking if we suffer through the current “live-fire training” of hardship and disappointment. For when you have fought the good fight of Faith and are honorably discharged from this life, you enter a weight of glory, a degree of friendship, and a realm of joyful responsibility no one of any rank of men or angels can ever take away from you. Something no number of well-deserved Purple Hearts and Silver Stars can match. Something worth soldiering for.

© Kurt Mähler

1. John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad, p. 41. Read the full “Life is war” quote here.  ↩︎
2. Michael Hyatt calls these our “rituals” that create margin for productivity at work and flourishing in life. Read his overview on daily rituals and download a kit for creating your own here.  ↩︎
3. C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces, his last novel, which Lewis considered his crowning creative work, in which the protagonist battles an army of questions, cravings, and offenses until surrendering to the inexorable love of the One who created her. Set in a fictional pagan, barbaric kingdom in the ancient world.  ↩︎
4. Read the story of Master Sergeant John A. Chapman, who did just that, posthumously receiving the Medal of Honor. ↩︎
5. Corporate consultant Simon Synek unpacks this in one of his most viral posts ↩︎