no more tangles

2 Timothy 2:1-21

Be Strong

2 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ² The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. ³ Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴ No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. ⁵ Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶ The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. ⁷ Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

Paul frequently uses images of soldiers, warfare of athletic competion. These images were very relevent to those Paul writes to, the military because of the presence of the Roman army and the athletic references because of the influence of Greek culture among his audience. 

Paul makes the connection again here that we are enlisted as soldiers for Christ. There is no relevence to an analogy of a soldier unless the follower of Christ is engeged in a battle. Paul is clear throughout his writings to express his understanding that the Christian fight is not with other people, but in the spiritual realm. Paul submits to authority and seeks to bring a revelation of Christ even to his accusers and captors. His instruction in this passage is that  a soldier actively engaged in a battle can not allow himself to be "entangled" in the affairs of every day life. We too are each day engeged in an active, ongoing spiritual battle, a battle that effects the eternal condition of ourselves, those we love and all those whose lives touch ours. One of our biggest struggles as believers is to find the balance in our lives to properly fulfill our responsibilities and obligations in the affairs of every day life, family, work, school etc, while recognizing that the spiritual realm is every bit as real and of more influence in our lives both now and certainly eternally.

The key really is in the word "entangled". We need to come to the place where we can walk through the things of every day life, the highs, the lows, both good bad and ordinary, without those things ruling and consuming all of our time and energy. We are only given 24 hours in any given day. We need to sleep and we have jobs or home responsibilities that take another 8-12 hours of our time. So for many people there are only a few hours a day that are not already accounted for. 

Just as our physical bodies require  rest, sleep and nourishment, our spirit does as well. We need to have times of rest in the Lord. We need to feed daily on His word, both the written word of scripture and His living word as He speaks daily to us in prayer or intimes of devotion and reflection. It is critical for the health of every believer to find time to persue God in rest, devotion and prayer. To use an athletic comparison as Paul does, most team try to have a game plan that will get them off to a good start so they are competing from a position of advantage. It is beneficial for us too to find a way to get off to a good start. Just because we may not have the time to begin the day with an hour or two of prayer and devotion doesn't mean we can't find ways to get off to a better start each day. Some of that requires the physical discipline of changing and modifying our routines. Just as it is not the best nutritional choice to begin each day with a creme-filled donut, we need to make better choices about what we nouish ourselves with spiritually. There are many voices competing for our attention and God's voice will not neccessarily be the loudest. We need to turn off as much of the stactic noise in our lives as possible, limiting TV, internet and  social media is a good place to start

This begins with a decision but it goes well beyond simply a choice we make. We need to learn to allow our spirit, yielded to the Holy Spirit to operate in our lives throughout our day. We can learn to "pray without ceasing"(1 Thessalonians 5:17). We can learn to dwell and abide in Christ regardless of the circumstances that surround us. We do this as we disentangle ourselves with the affairs of every day life. Jesus encourages us to learn to prioritize our lives in Matthew 6:

 ³¹ Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ ³² For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴ “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

May we day by day disentangle ourselves from the affairs of the world. Establishing physical and spiritual disciplines that will enable us to get off to a good start hearing from and resting in God. May we learn to allow our spirit, yielded to the Holy Spirit lead our lives.