Spiritual Drill Sergeant

This morning during my prayer time, the Spirit laid on my heart, "Salt is abrasive and light is blinding to those who have been walking in darkness."  The church is in deep apostasy, believers are languishing in darkness and people like me are offensive in a world like this.  But that is exactly what we need at this late hour.  The church needs to be offended.  People need someone abrasive and blinding to snatch them out of their spiritual stupor.  

A drill sergeant doesn't coddle his soldiers because he is making them into warriors.  He is teaching them how to be a formidable force against a very real and very strong foe.  The drill sergeant sets the bar high, impossibly high and he reaches for that standard not only in his own life, but he also pushes his soldiers to reach for that impossibly high standard in theirs.  Throughout boot camp, the drill sergeant is hated, despised, looked upon with disdain and contempt.  Throughout boot camp, the drill sergeant is enemy number one, because the soldiers have yet to engage with their real enemy.  But that is exactly what the drill sergeant is training them for.  

Day after day the drill sergeant exposes weakness, calls out error, day after day the soldiers are pushed to their limit.  Day after day the drill sergeant blares the trumpet early in the morning for his soldiers to rise, and morning after morning the soldiers arise groggy, confused, exhausted from the previous day's training, only to go through it all over again with that God-forsaken drill sergeant that won't shut up.  That keeps barking about their failures and pointing out their flaws.  The drill sergeant is the butt of jokes, the common target of contempt among the soldiers, but the drill sergeant doesn't care because he doesn't see his soldiers for what they are now, but for what they will become.  The drill sergeant looks to what lies ahead.

One of the things that the Spirit laid on my heart early on, was that I can only reproduce what I am.  If I am a mediocre disciple, then I will only reproduce mediocrity.  If I am a half-built tower, then I can only teach people to build half a tower.  Jesus said we are to be perfect, even as our Heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48).  As believers in Christ, our standard is perfection because that is what we are being transformed into.  Paul tells us that we are to forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead, pressing onward toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:13,14).  Every born again believer is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, giving them the power of Almighty God to be transformed into His image.  Therefore, we are to press onward and upward toward that image, leaving behind all that isn't.

I remember many years ago when I went to my brother's graduation from Marine Corps boot camp, seeing all those young men walking in step, immaculate in form, their eyes straight ahead, completely focused as they moved in total unity.  I remember the sound of their feet as they marched, a low rumble in perfect rhythm, and I remember thinking, "God have mercy on whoever gets in their way."  I remember hearing the stories from his dad about his own Marine Corps boot camp experience.  I remember what both my brother and his dad looked like and acted like before they went to boot camp versus what they looked like and acted like when they came out.  In just a matter of weeks they transformed from boys into men.  They transformed from mediocrity to excellence.  And I remember them both talking about how much they initially hated their drill instructor, but spoke of him with respect, gratitude and honor after it was all said and done.  Salt is abrasive to the soft of skin and light is blinding to those who walk in darkness, therefore only after their transformation could they see what he saw and understand what he understood.

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." (Matt 5:13)

"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'...So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions." (Luke 14:27-33)

"Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Luke 14:34,35)

"And He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.'" (Luke 23-26)