Vox populi | covenant

… for others

“F

or me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Phil.1:21).  These words mark a place of significance in my life, a place of formation in my walk of discipleship.  I’m presently in preparation for the upcoming commissioning for cadets, and focus on covenant, and I’m reminded again we need to decrease that Christ may increase (Jn.3:30).

There has been a lot of discussion about officership on here.  Actually, I notice when we blog about holiness, discipleship etc., it is pretty quiet.  If you throw in smoking, drinking, uniform, sacraments or officership then comments tend to fly fast and furious.  Regardless of officer, soldier, laity, Jesus follower or any other label one may choose, the issue of my rights is something we all wrestle with.

I have a right to… name them for yourself… but if we read anything by Paul or the teachings of Jesus, we find a call to discipleship which calls us to walk away from any claim on our individual rights.  For people who belong to the body of Christ as soldiers, the covenant declares a denial of rights and a commitment to an outward life of holiness.  In the officer’s covenant and undertakings we walk away from claims to many rights in order to live as an officer.  Regardless of how you belong in the body, we are all called to give up our rights for the sake of mission and others.

I promise not to smoke, drink, etc., not because of health reasons, but for the sake of those we serve, who struggle.  I promise to give up my claim on employment outside of officership to focus my attention on the mission at hand versus my own desires and interests.  It is for the sake of others, but often times when I’m tempted away from my promises, and it does happen, I need a reminder why we make these promises in the first place… for others.

Vox populi appears every Friday on theRubicon. Find past Vox populi posts and a bio of Capt. Rick Zelinsky here.

4 Comments to Vox populi | covenant

1. Hehehe… I know what you’re saying. I posted recently on holiness and have had no comments but I got many comments when I addressed the issue of worship style.

   Go figure… but I suspect it highlights what is really wrong with the Western church.
Paul Gardner on June 6th, 2008

2. Rick, your article is so needed when in fact I wish we could learn to die more of ourselves, so Christ could be more evident in our lives. However, because we live in such a material world, we step on others so that we can gain, we hurt others so that we can gain. Why? Because we feel we deserve it!

   In fact we are living lives that are backwards. If we could only be a true body of believers, encouraging one another, uplifting one another, suppporting each other no matter what the cause may be, what a powerful army we would be. Is it there? Yes it is but it is very faint indeed. In my many years of serving the army I have come to see that we have become individuals forgetting that we need to stick together and support one another in this Holy War by choosing to live Holy lives. Why were the Thessalonians so successful in their ministry? Because they had each other, they saw they were the body of Christ.

   2 Thessalonians “3We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. 4Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.”

   They were survivors of the holy war by living out God’s living word, being in constant prayer and by growing and maturing through their times of persecution. They did not survive the Holy war because they stepped on each other so that they would gain, but because they supported each other so that Christ would gain.

   This covenant is very powerful, very needed to help us to stay focused in this Holy War.
Lisa on June 6th, 2008

3. Once more I quote from “The Jesus Way” by Eugene Peterson.
   “If we decide to follow Jesus and live as servants, we cannot do it in the worlds way. Not merely must not,cannot not.
   Jesus said I AM THE WAY.
Stan Brown on June 6th, 2008

4. A great big God bless you Rick and God bless The Salvation Army. Henry
Henry Armstrong on June 7th, 2008

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