he’s just asking for equal treatment

She had signed up but never th0ught she was a soldier.

A boy sleeping in an alley, Romania.

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Luke 14.26, 33

Whoever comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. None of you can be my disciple if you do not give up everything.

During the Gulf War there was a story on the news about a young woman who was a soldier and refused to go to war because she was a new mother and her baby needed her. She had joined the National Guard, wanting the salary but apparently assuming that the risk-benefit gamble was in her favor. Most people in the national Guard never see action. They are paid to be ready, but usually the pay keeps coming without actually having to do too much to earn it. When she was called up it was obvious that the gamble hadn’t been a good one.

There were feelings on both sides, but most people agreed that she had signed up, she knew the obligations, she had taken the money, and now it was time to be a soldier.

People who join the military routinely leave their homes and families to go to a foreign country to fulfill their duty. Many pay with their lives.

We understand it. A soldier must leave. Often forever. The family is second. No one is allowed to plead special circumstances because they have a family. A child is not a special circumstance. If you join you go.

We understand that.

But not when it comes to Christ.

Christ is not asking us to do anything for him that we wouldn’t do for our country. It’s not extraordinary, it’s not asking anything unusual, it’s not asking us to do something no one else would do. He’s simply asking for equal treatment.

Why will hundreds of thousands—millions—do it for “God and country” but not for Christ? Why will people leave everything and place their lives at risk for their country but not for God? Why is it that in the church of Christ the family is esteemed above any other demand? Why is it that a Christian who serves in the military is never questioned about his devotion to his family, but a person who does the same thing for Christ is abandoning his family?