Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

September 20, 2019

by Pastor Hawtree

BIBLE READING: II TIMOTHY 2

3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

So, apparently there will be times that we face difficulties as we serve Jesus Christ. I hate to break it to you, but the Bible uses the word “hardness” here. This word means “hardship”. We are supposed to endure hardship, just like a soldier endures hardship when fighting in a battle or war. Fighting in a military war or conflict undoubtedly is one of the greatest hardships a person can encounter, literally facing death every minute.

Make no mistake, we who are believers in Christ are in a spiritual war. We must war against Satan, we must war against sin, and even greater we must war against our self. This is the toughest war that has ever been fought. It is a never ending battle. If we are going to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, we cannot quit. We must keep fighting.

We are also told that if we are fighting this war, we cannot entangle ourselves with the affairs of this life. This word “entangleth” means to entwine. To be so wrapped up in something that you cannot get free. When I hear this word, I always think of outdoor Christmas lights that you have to unpack from storage every year. It’s always a nightmare trying to untangle the lights that you impatiently threw back into storage. I do not want to hear from everyone advice on how to correctly organize them. It’s not that I don’t know, it’s just that I am impatient. When Christmas is done, I’m done with Christmas. But that’s another whole story.

The point is that we cannot correctly fight a war against Satan, sin and self if we are constantly entangled and wrapped up in the cares and temptations of this life. It can get to the point that we are not free enough to fight. Any soldier that is so entangled that he cannot fight, that soldier simply cannot win. Why don’t you free yourself from some “life” things today. Are you losing spiritual battles because you’re so entangled with the “affairs of this life”? Remember, this is not our only life, this is just “this life”.