The Lazy Soldier

~

There was a king, back in the days of the Knights, and armor, and battles on a tremendous scale. Back when your sword was your life. He went to war against his enemy on the borders and immediately had all his troops begin extra training and conditioning to prepare them for the brutal battles that would be upon them soon. He also laid down one rule, each man was to keep and sharpen his own blade, he didn't see why others should keep care of something when it was in fact the very life of each man.
 One day the king went down to inspect his men as they practiced and sharpened not just their swords but also their skills and minds. He went from training ground to training ground, watching the men work and giving out the occasional praise here and there where it was worthy. He took note of the ones not only that had great skill, but the ones who fought with passion and tried their hardest to become better.

Shortly he came upon one man that was not training nor doing anything really. He was wearing the colors and uniform of the kings soldiers, but he was not doing anything. He was standing off to the side watching everyone else. His sword laid on the ground, rusted from no use and neglect of care.
The king came up to the man and demanded why he was not participating in the training.
"I just don't have the time sir," replied the man. The king looked at him in shock, "What in the world do you mean man!?! You are a soldier! It is your job to train and become better so you can fight!"
The soldier looked at him and said with all honesty and just a bit of shame now, "I just don't have time, I have other things to do and I just don't have the time to sit here and sharpen my sword nor to train with it."
 The king turned to one of his servants, "I want you to take this man and take away his sword, he has no use of it. Take him to the village and have him serve in some other way. But he is utterly useless to me on the front lines."
The soldier looked at him in shock. "But sir, I want to serve you out on the front!"
The king replied, "If you cannot be bothered to make time to sharpen your own sword, and use it faithfully to keep your skills sharp, then you are of no use to me. You will simply be killed or your sword broken. You are still part of the Kingdom, you simply are not one of my warriors."

~

As Christians we are the Soldiers of God, the most High King. He expects us to keep our weapons sharp and our minds and skills at the ready in order that we may combat the enemy at any given time.
"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." 1 Peter 3:15b (NIV)

We MUST make time every day to read our Bibles! If we do not make the time to dive into his Word every single day then we are allowing our "sword" to sit and become rusty, rendering ourselves useless to his purposes.

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." ~Ephesians 6:13 (NIV)

God Bless,
      Ryan