GET IN STEP, SOLDIER! GET! IN! STEP!

A Militarized 'Father-Son-Spirit' Trinity Point of View

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." -Galatians 5:24-25 (Emphasis mine)

Imagine a drill instructor in his best R. Lee Ermey, from Full Metal Jacket, voice barking marching commands to a platoon…

“Hut” – The left foot hits the ground.

“Two” – The right foot hits the ground.

“Three” – The left foot hits the ground.

“Four” – The right foot hits the ground.

“GET IN STEP!!!  WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION??? GET IN STEP, SOLDIER!!! GET! IN! STEP!”

 “…NOW!!!”

As the drill sergeant barks the rhythmic cadence commands, the 40 to 60 soldiers’, sailors’, airmen, or marines’ feet hit the ground in uniform fashion, creating a unanimous and thunderous thud, then the cadence repeats.    

Close your eyes and imagine a unit of military personnel, four men wide by 10 to 15 columns long, marching by.  Every individual foot and arm swings the same exact direction at the same exact time in unison. It creates a strong picture of cohesive unity. To witness and hear this in action is completely beautiful and awe-filling.

It takes weeks of intense extensive training to arrive to this point of discipline, though.  Learning the drill instructor’s unique voice, specific (foreign-to-the-outside-world) commands, and the conditioning of the mind eventually creates a second-nature rhythm within the body.  This doesn’t happen overnight, though.  Many hours in elements of heat, cold, beating sunlight, and/or rain are spent outside of the barracks shaping and conditioning on a hard asphalt or concrete “drill pad” (basically a huge parking lot-looking area to practice marching and military drill movement procures). 

But… Let one’s feet, within the disciplined marching formation, become off-rhythm or “out of step”, though.  That commanding drill sergeant’s keen sense of detail promptly hones in on the non-conforming, against-the-grain individual’s lack of rhythm and causes him to bring the unit’s forward progress to a complete halt.  Correcting and molding begins.  The drill sergeant immediately begins a loud vocal, and possibly physical, confrontation to create a speedy, remedial fix.  As soon as the fix is implemented and in effect, the drill sergeant forgives/forgets the misstep and eventually, when the soldier is fully military trained, would give his life or reputation for this brother-in-arms.

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." –Romans 12:2 (Emphasis mine)

This mind-conditioning process creates a neurological, second-nature cadence that commands the body’s limbs to instinctively, swiftly, and militantly react upon a barked command.  This intensive training drives separate individuals to becoming an interconnected, one-unit, uniform machine. Again, the sight of this is completely amazing.

 

Metaphorically, what does this mean?  What is going on, here? How does this relate to life?

The metaphoric depiction: 

The Drill Instructor (Corrector/Forgiver):  The Father - God

The Marching Unit:  The Holy Spirit

The Out-Of Step Individual:  Us

The Drill Instructor (The One Who 

Will Sacrifice for the Soldier): The Son - Jesus Christ

The Barked Commands/Cadences:  The Word of God

Metaphorically, relating to real-life, correcting and molding can [and will] happen when we become out of step with the Holy Spirit’s direction. When a Christian becomes out of step with the Holy Spirit living inside of them, [who continually guides the conscience in a definitive direction], it can bring halts, confrontations, and hardships to life. 

Think of the many times you may have journeyed against the naturally occurring direction your conscience instructs.  What consequences did it bring?  Did feelings of guilt, adversity, and thoughts of, “I should’ve/shouldn’t’ve…,” possibly flare?  Did it give birth to adversity, calamity, or sin? Did it create a long-way around to an eventual destination?  And in that journey, was discipline endured? Sometimes, maybe nothing at all occurs until later or ever. But always,  thoughts linger of disobeying what we've read in the Word (the Bible) and marching against what naturally occurs inside of us: the Holy Spirit's guidence.

Jesus tells us this about the Holy Spirit: "If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever -the Spirit of truth... But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."-John 14:15-16, 17, 26

God definitely allows us to endure discipline, through various forms, to hone and correct us, or, in other words, to bring us back into step with the Holy Spirit.  He does this because He loves us and considers us His children. 

"Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?  If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all." -Hebrews 12:7-8

One small decision, good or bad, can create a domino effect of benefits or consequences throughout the future.  One drop of water, collecting more water drops, forming a stream, building momentum, forming a small river, thus gaining more momentum can create a river the size of the Mississippi River, leading into the Gulf of Mexico. 

"Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." -James 1:15

Or…  What about when we know we have obeyed, though?  How great is the feeling in knowing that we’ve kept in-step with the Holy Spirit? 

"Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither — whatever they do prospers." -Psalm 1:1-3

Yes, and of course, through the Son, the Father can and will forgive and restore us through repentance.

"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." –Colossians 1:13-14

How do we fuel our actions to do right? The best way to do this is through submerging ourselves into reading and meditating on the Word of God, praying, listening when the Holy Spirit instructs our conscience to become one with "marching unit", and doing as Paul says in Galatians 5:25, because we, as Christians, are...

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus,” and through salvation, we, "have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."