No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs. - 2 Timothy 2.4

Join the Army: See Your Bedroom.

While that is not the official recruiting slogan for the Belgian army, it soon could be. Belgium’s military, worried about declining recruitment and increasing age, may soon offer a daring new perq to potential soldiers: You can complete your basic training as a day-job and return to your own bed every night. The new rule would apply only on weekdays; Belgian recruits already have the weekends off.

With no mandatory military service, an average age of forty-four, and a seventy percent drop in its ranks, the Belgian military figures they have to meet young people on their own turf, even if it means surrendering the high ground of military readiness. Predictably, seasoned veterans scoff at the idea. “You don’t go to a war zone with men who miss their mama,” says former paratrooper Danny Lams.

Using a military metaphor, the Apostle Paul calls his protege Timothy to a more rigorous service. Share in suffering like a good soldier of Jesus Christ, he demands (2 Tim 2.3). Jesus set the example by which training in faith trumps hanging with family (Mk 3.32-35).

You don’t train for something hard by doing something easy. You don’t make spiritual soldiers out of stay-at-home saints.

Here at SCS we offer basic training to a militia of ministers whom God has called to done their spiritual armor and fight in the front ranks. They often spend their days and nights in a classroom instead of a living room. When they do go home, they frequently neglect their beds in favor of their books. As drill sargeants in this sacred endeavor, we dare not demand a commitment that we ourselves do not model. Today, let’s renew our devotion to commitment above convenience.