“We as Christians love ‘battle language,’ but I wonder if this really serves us well in spiritual formation.”
I heard this quote from Betsy Garmon, who’s been a guest speaker in class a few times this semester. Betsy is a fascinating person with a ton of knowledge, but of all of the soundbites she’s provided me with in her hours of teaching, this is one that particularly stuck.
I’ll admit that I fall into the camp of those who love “battle language.” I’ve led more than one devotional about the armor of God, and others on the Roman centurion in Luke 7. My favorite piece of jewelry is a necklace that has a shield emblazoned with the cross of Saint James – a cross combined with a sword. I like to think of myself as the battle-scarred warrior, raising my shield of faith and sword of the spirit as I charge into the fray…
“…but I wonder if this really serves us well in spiritual formation…”
This isn’t where Betsy ended her metaphor. She continued on to say that perhaps we need to reject the idea of the battlefield in favor of a garden.
In the garden – like on the battlefield – there is pain, there is death, there is change, there is survival.
But when you stand on a battlefield for too long, your best-case scenario is just that: survival. At best, you get away with minor injuries and live to fight another day. At best, you’re still alive, most likely beaten, bruised, and left to pull yourself back up for the next fight.
Is this the life of abundance that God has for us? I don’t think so – there has to be more.
What the battlefield lacks is found in the garden. Yes, there is death, there is pain, and there is some survival. But there’s also growth, refinement, harvest, and life. There is something to show for it, and something beautiful to share. God – the vinedresser, in the words of Jesus himself – will handle you with purpose and precision. Pruning doesn’t always feel good, but it’s always for his glory.
I’m not saying that there’s never a time to fight, but sometimes we need to put down our swords and sit in the garden for a bit.
…They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. Micah 4:3-4
Oh, and about that necklace, that one with the sword and shield. Without too much thought as to why, I stopped wearing it in this season, replacing it with a key on a bronze chain. Looking back, it heralded my move away from the battlefield, laying down my weapons of war and unlocking the gate to the garden.
