Before coming to live in the USA, I would sometimes watch a show or movie and hear American soldiers encouraging each other by the words, “Semper Fi.” I didn’t think much of it at the time – it’s just the movies. When I started living in the USA, I actually heard Marines using this term as an important call of camaraderie with each other. On the US Marines website there is a page devoted to the Semper Fi call and it is thus explained. “Established in 1883, this motto distinguishes the bond developed and shared between Marines…..It goes beyond words that are spoken, as it is a warriorhood that is lived. It is the fighting spirit of every Marine that can make the promise to win our Nation's battles. This promise is proclaimed in our motto, Semper Fidelis, and it means that we are always faithful to those on our left and right, from the fellow Marines we fight alongside, to those in our communities for which we fight.” (Emphasis mine).
As I think of the seriousness of battle, I couldn’t think of a better cry to rally brothers in arms to be always faithful and on all occasions. To be always faithful means that we should be able to rely on whoever makes that call to carry out the commander’s orders with an undistracted precision. Marines might not always share their commander’s priorities of battle, but if they are distracted by their own causes, they will not be faithful to the greater battle plan of the commander. This is exactly the admonition that the Apostle Paul gives Timothy as he calls him to be a soldier of Christ.
2 Timothy 2:3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
How does a Christian discern civilian pursuits from our Commander’s battle plan? Well, in 1 and 2 Timothy, Paul is constantly telling Timothy to protect, preach, and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and the doctrines that surround it and point to it. There are any number of causes that Christians might desire to make our battle ground. Some of those causes greatly appeal to Christians as we desire to live in and stand for the holiness of God. Sometimes, apart from what we might call “good” causes, Christians can simply be distracted by the desires of our world – riches, popularity, worldly power, relationships, pleasure, and the list goes on. It takes marine-like discipline to be always faithful as we seek to live for Christ and proclaim hope and salvation in him alone.
Does that life seem repetitive to you? Do you want to say that there is more to life than Christ and his gospel? Let me suggest that these questions you are hearing are calls of distraction. Paul wants Timothy and you to know that the eternal significance of Jesus means that there is not a program or cause or possession or lifestyle or community that even slightly measures up to the call and mission of the gospel. If that is not the flavor of your life and activities in this world, you might want to stand to attention in front of the mirror with Jesus in mind and call out with a loud voice – “Semper Fi.”