Onward Christian Soldiers

During a school sports day, if you were in a running race, you wouldn’t dilly-dally about on the field once the race had started, thinking about anything and everything, would you?  Your mind would be focused and your eyes would be on the finish line, and once the race had started you would run as fast as you could, hopefully to get a first, second or third place but ultimately to finish the race and not get left behind!  

The phrase ‘dilly-dally’ in the dictionary means ‘waste time through aimless wandering or indecision.’  In the Old Testament of the Bible there was a group of people that dilly-dallied about in the wilderness for forty years, when the journey should have taken them 11 days!  Moses had been chosen by God to deliver His people, the Israelites, out of bondage in Egypt.  God had promised their forefathers possession of a land ‘flowing with milk and honey,’ or in other words, a very fertile land.  Due to their disobedience to God, and unbelief that they could indeed take possession of this land, they saw the wrath of God.  They were left to wander aimlessly in the wilderness for forty years until the generation of unbelievers died and never did enter the Promised Land, only the next generation entered.  The unbelieving generation that dilly-dallied about all those years in the wilderness, walked by sight and not by faith.

Hebrews 11:6 (CSB)
Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

An account of Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness can be found in the Bible in the Book of Numbers, chapters 13 and 14 and also in the Book of Deuteronomy 1:19-46.

In the New Testament of the Bible we read about the apostle Paul.  From his past life, before he knew God, Paul whose name was originally Saul of Tarsus, was a hated man who persecuted and  arrested Christians and had them thrown in jail.  He also approved of Christians being put to death.  On the Road to Damascus he heard the voice of Jesus, asking him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”  Because of this encounter and what followed next, Saul who later became the apostle Paul, became a believer and follower of Jesus Christ and devoted the rest of his life preaching the Gospel.  He didn’t have an easy life as a Christian, he faced death several times, was whipped several times, beaten with rods, imprisoned, stoned and shipwrecked three times.  He still kept going though, through every danger, continuing to preach the Gospel because he wanted to finish the race before he died.  In Paul’s own words:

2 Timothy 4:7 (CSB)
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Saul on the ‘Road to Damascus’ can be found in the Book of Acts 9:1-19

1 Corinthians 9:24-25
Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize?  Run in such a way to win the prize.  Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything.  They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown.

Acts 20:24 (CSB)
But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

Philippians 3:14 (CSB)
I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (CSB)
Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.  Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.  For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

In whatever circumstance we find ourselves, we must not lose the faith we have in God.  We must keep going, we must finish the race to get our prize of eternal life in heaven.

If you have not yet given your life to Jesus and accepted him into your heart, then do so now before it’s too late.  Repent of your sins and ask God’s forgiveness, believe and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus died for your sins on the cross, was buried, believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead on the third day, he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of our Father God.  Read your Bible daily, pray daily, connect with other Christians through church and get baptised if not already.

Romans 10:9-10 (CSB)
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.

Jesus is set to return to earth, when we do not know, only God knows, but be ready, it could be sooner than we think!

John 14: 1-7 (CSB)
“Don’t let your heart be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?  If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.  You know the way to where I am going.”  “Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where you’re going.  How can we know the way?”  Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you know me, you will also know my Father.  From now on you do know him and have seen him.”