A Thought for the Day - 009

by Jesse Abel

A Thought for the Day - 009

 

Like many, I am comfortable with the instructions that surface from my heart. Yet there remains this one urgency of need. It is the counsel of the LORD that is the rub and in the end; it is His counsel that will deliver me. Proverbs 28:26

 

Comments and challenges

 

Standing outside the store front in 1957 I read the information in the window. “Join the Navy and see the world” of course, there was more to read but those are the words I remember. Through the remainder of the year I thought about seeing the world around me and by February 1958 I made the decision to do just that.

 

From Kentucky to Illinois, from Illinois to Virginia and from Virginia to Rhode Island, then from Rhode Island to the Atlantic Ocean, okay; from the Atlantic to Cuba; then back to the Atlantic and then… discharged. This was not exactly what I envisioned while daydreaming outside that window five years before. The Navy was not concerned about showing me the world, the Navy was only interested in filling a billet. A selfish viewpoint!

 

Could it be that there was little commitment on my part and plenty of opportunity on the Navy’s part? I believe that this parallels the walk of many believers in the LORD Jesus Christ. As we stood outside the “gospel” we were intrigued with the “Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ”. With His Words we read or heard… “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosesoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this? John 11:25 KJV

 

So I enlisted in the Navy, therefore I was “justified” to serve a tour of four years, but I did not do much serving (well I did serve a lot of food, but I was not a cook!). I was selfish, just filling a billet and doing and causing as much mischief as one could.

 

I again see a lot of similarity with many saints of God; selfishly serving out mischief (a child of God? Yes! But not a bondservant). I do not remember who came to this country to flee the persecution within Russia at the time, but after a few months in this country the person said that persecution was far better since he could not find a committed or submissive believer to have solid fellowship with.

 

When I returned to the Navy in 1964 I submitted to the authority of the Navy and within the next four years and being committed to a career I went from E-3 to E-6, or from Seaman to First Class. I think what I am seeking to say here is that I went from a civilian in a sailor uniform in the first four years to a “sailor in uniformity” for the next twenty-five. Conforming to the standards of a career in the military is very similar to Romans 12:1-2. The service to God and to His saints is sanctifying and far more rewarding.