Thanks for Serving!

My email and blog inboxes are full of notes and pieces saying “thanks” to our veterans. Since I’m a pretty high profile Christian, most of these emails and blogs are from fellow followers of Christ.

I guess that since I’m a former soldier and the father of a soldier, people want to make sure I understand how much they appreciate what it costs a family to serve in the military. I’m grateful for that, but there are a couple of things bothering me. Not about these individual Christians, but with the so-called conservative, evangelical church.

If we’re as dedicated as we say we are to America and freedom, then why are there so few veterans among us? I’m one of those guys who stands up in our worship services around the country the Sunday before every Memorial Day and Fourth of July. But what I’ve noticed is that there are fewer and fewer of us standing.

Most of us are at least in our fifties. This means that since the days of Vietnam, not many Christians have been joining the ranks to fight for the freedoms we hold so dear.

Where Have All the Christian Soldiers Gone?

A few years ago, I was encouraging one of my students in a Christian university to consider going into the military. He looked at me in shock and said, “I can’t afford to waste three or four years in the military. And besides, my parents would really be upset!”

I wasn’t surprised. Not at all.

Somewhere along the way our life in the suburbs, career-building, run-to-Starbucks Christian culture decided that freedom isn’t as precious as comfort and safety. And so, we leave the actual defense of it all to the pagans.

Freedom is Costly!

It’s a dangerous trend when the Christians decide that the hard part of citizenship isn’t for them. Instead, we’ll just sit and pout, watch Fox news and talk about the people who don’t “believe in a strong military.”

Maybe it’s time to start rethinking what it means to be pro-defense. Maybe it involves a lot more than simply watching the “right” cable news, listening to the “right” radio commentators, and griping about the liberals. Maybe we ought to think of the military as a strategic “people group,” desperately needing Christian leaders.

I think the Bible calls that, citizenship.

“Render therefore to (government authorities) all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor” (Romans 13:7).