Army Ants
I'm reminded of a situation that happened when I was in my last week of basic training in the army. We were on a forced march. We were the blue team. Our platoon leader was intent on going around the red team and surprising them. He wanted to win badly and was pushing us hard. We were in single file moving through high grass, brush and scrub trees. The going was hot and rough. We had come through some brush that was covered with large red ants earlier. Every few steps the man in front of me kept muttering ouch! ###!**! Owe! I ask him what was the matter and her replied: "I have ants in my boot and they keep biting me!" "Stop and get them out!" I told him. "No!" He said, "The lieutenant will be mad and I will get in trouble.
I kept at him and finally he agreed to stop. The two of us ducked under a stubby tree and shed our packs and quickly checked each other for ants. He removed his boot and sock. A dozen angry big red ants came scurrying out. His foot was red and starting to swell. I pulled my benadryl cream from my pack and he slathered the bites.
Knowing that we would be in deep trouble soon we hurried to get our packs back on and headed up the trail. As we were coming to the top of a small hill we could hear a commotion ahead. We dropped to the ground and crawled slowly up to the crest of the hill. To our surprise our team had been ambushed and captured by the red team. Our lieutenant was cussing and yelling at our team mates for not being good enough. The red team was sitting smoking and laughing because they thought they had won.
The two of us looked at each other and slowly backed down the hill. We quietly moved down a brushy creek bed and followed it around until we were behind the confusion. We then slowly crawled through the tall grass until we were close. We stood and recaptured our team and won the day. This happy little act of disobedience is part of what put me into a group of only 5 out of 100 men that were promoted out of basic training.
That day I learned that following blindly often gets one into bondage. I also learned that those "in charge" do not always have the followers best interest in mind. The goal becomes all consuming. The nice thing about the body of Christ is that the goal is always the same. Love God - love others - koinonia. We do not have to capture anyone or any place. He has already accomplished the victory. If we love God, love others, and enter into the full sharing of koinonia then we share the victory with Christ. After all, we are in Him and He is in us. No pushing shoving and other silliness is needed.
We have a lifetime of teaching and experience that tells us to follow blindly and serve whether we want to our not. Jesus said come unto me and I will give you rest. He also said something about the parasites (sorry I meant Pharisees) loading people up with burdens they themselves could not bear. Hmmm .. ? Sound familiar?
Neil
