CHAPTER SEVEN
BOOT CAMP
How Trials Prepare Us for Battle
I live near Camp Pendleton, the US Marine Corps base in San Diego County. Every marine shares one thing in common. They’ve all survived boot camp. It’s the experience that turns a recruit into a marine.
Boot camp is no picnic. No one but a drill sergeant calls it enjoyable. But it serves an incredibly important purpose. And contrary to what many think, it’s not to flush out the weak. It actually weeds out relatively few—fewer than 10 percent wash out. The primary purpose of boot camp is to make marines, not to break them. It’s to prepare them for what lies ahead.
High-level athletes go through something similar. It’s called training camp. Serious competitors learn early on: no pain, no gain. If a workout doesn’t leave them sore, it won’t make them strong. If their practices are too easy, they’ll be gassed in the fourth quarter. To become a champion, they have to be toughened up. They have to be stretched and strengthened beyond what comes naturally.
It’s the same in the spiritual realm. If we are going to survive and thrive in a Babylon-like environment, we have to be toughened up. We need to be stretched and strengthened beyond what comes naturally. We need a spiritual boot camp. We need some trials and hardships.
Wimp Christians?
Every now and then I run across a Christ follower who has never really suffered.
Some would call them fortunate.
I don’t.
I call them unprepared.
Those of us who have never been hassled or marginalized for our faith are ill equipped to face genuine persecution. We have little chance of thriving in Babylon. We’ll be lucky to survive.
I’m reminded of a church member who came to me, crushed after he’d been passed over for a major promotion at work that effectively put a lid on his career.
He was an outspoken Christian.
His immediate supervisor was an atheist.
He was sure that was the reason he didn’t get promoted.
Through tears he told me he was angry and frustrated with God. He felt that the Lord had let him down. He wondered what good it had done him to follow Jesus for all these years.
I didn’t know what to say. I thought the main reason we follow Jesus is because he’s God and he forgives our sins. I didn’t realize there was a career advancement component as part of the deal.
To make matters worse, he had a prickly personality. From what I’d seen, he didn’t play well in the sandbox. I wasn’t surprised to hear that he didn’t get the promotion.
He also had a long history of pestering me with a never-ending stream of articles and podcasts he wanted me to read or listen to. Most of them lamented the moral or political landscape of our day. Many were inflammatory and short on truth. Some were downright slanderous. All were heavy on the catastrophe side of the scale.
He was convinced that we were in the last days. He was sure the Antichrist was just around the corner. And he was concerned that I wasn’t adequately attuned to the economic, political, and cultural disasters that were taking place.
Now I have to admit that what I did next might not seem very pastoral.
I told him the truth.
I reminded him that he still had a job, a decent one at that. It put food on the table and a roof over his head. In some parts of the world, he wouldn’t even be able to get a job as an outspoken Christian. In some places, his faith could cost him his life.
I suggested that his failure to be promoted might be a spiritual boot camp experience. Maybe it was God’s way of showing him he was too soft, not yet ready for battle. After all, if a lost promotion could put his faith into the ditch, there was no way he was ready to handle the genuine persecution he was so sure was just around the corner.
He immediately fell on his knees and repented. He thanked me profusely for telling him the hard truth he needed to hear. He went home with a new perspective, praising God for the job he had and the many blessings he’d been taking for granted.
If you believe that, I have some money waiting for you in a Nigerian bank account.
The truth is, he didn’t appreciate my perspective.
He told me I was a lousy counselor.
He was probably right. But I still think I’m a lot more empathetic than a drill sergeant.
Five Qualities We Can’t Survive Without
As our society and culture become increasingly hostile toward Christianity and Christian values, there are some spiritual qualities that become especially important. There are five in particular we can’t survive without. They’re important no matter what the situation. But in a Babylon-like environment, they become absolutely essential. So much so that God will send us through whatever spiritual boot camp it takes in order to build them into the fabric of our lives and character.
The five qualities are obedience, perspective, endurance, confidence, and courage. Here’s a look at each one and why these qualities are so important to our spiritual survival in Babylon.
Obedience
Obedience is the essential trait of discipleship. It’s always important. It’s the one thing that proves we know and love Jesus, and it’s the ultimate goal of the Great Commission.1
But it’s especially important in the middle of a firefight. There’s no time for hesitation or discussion when all hell breaks loose. That’s why obedience to the chain of command is one of the first things a new military recruit has to learn. Survival and victory depend on it.
It’s no different in the spiritual realm. Under the onslaught of a spiritual attack, it’s imperative that we obey without pause. When God says, “Jump!” the only appropriate question is “How high?” on the way up.
Now you’d think that kind of obedience would come naturally to us as Christians. After all, we claim that our Lord is King of kings and God of the universe. Our theology says he doesn’t make mistakes—or suggestions. He gives commands.
But let’s be honest. When things go south, our theology often goes out the window. When the path of obedience doesn’t make sense, appears too costly, or doesn’t seem to be working, we’re quick to blaze our own trail.
It’s easy to obey God when we agree with him. But that’s not really obedience. We haven’t learned obedience until we do what he says despite our doubts, confusion, or concern that his way won’t work out.
That’s the kind of obedience Solomon had in mind when he exhorted us, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”2
And that kind of obedience doesn’t come naturally.
It has to be learned. And it’s only learned in the framework of hardship and suffering, the spiritual boot camp experiences where we learn that the key to success is found in trusting God, even when we don’t agree with what he’s up to or wants us to do.
There’s no way to avoid it. Even Jesus had to learn obedience this way. The writer of Hebrews tells us:
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.3
A lot of the things God wants us to do don’t make sense in a spiritually hostile environment. They seem counterproductive. Consider some of his most basic and well-known commands: love your enemies, submit to authority, and forgive as we’ve been forgiven.
All of these things are easy to pontificate about when our Christian values dominate the culture. But they aren’t so easy to defend when our enemies are powerful, those in authority oppose us, and the culture at large mocks the very things we hold most dear.
But we must.
These are the things he commands.
It’s what learning to obey is all about.
Perspective
Perspective is the second quality we desperately need in a Babylon-like environment. Like obedience, it’s only acquired through the things we suffer.
Without perspective, everything gets blown out of proportion. We catastrophize. The loss of privilege becomes harsh persecution. Opposition becomes hatred. And every legal or electoral setback becomes cause for anguish and despair. In short, we evaluate and extrapolate without putting God into the equation.
Unfortunately, those who most lack perspective seldom realize it.
Why does a two-year-old think waiting five minutes is an eternity?
Why does a trust-fund baby think flying coach is the end of the world?
Why does a Little League parent scream and yell at an umpire’s bad call?
In each case, it’s a lack of perspective.
The two-year-old doesn’t understand time. The trust-fund baby doesn’t know how the rest of the world lives. And the Little League parent has no idea how insignificant his son’s game will be in a few years—or days—or hours.
But in each case they think they’re acting rationally. That’s why they respond as they do. It’s also why it never works to lecture a two-year-old, a trust-fund baby, or a screaming Little League parent about perspective. They think you’re the one who doesn’t get it.
But once we truly have perspective, it changes everything. It allows us to see the bigger picture. Consider the amazing lens through which the apostle Paul evaluated the many persecutions he faced. It’s mind-boggling.
Here was a man who endured repeated floggings, beatings, assassination attempts, imprisonments, shipwrecks, and a life lived on the run. Yet he came to the point that he viewed them as mere momentary troubles in light of the heavenly glories to come.4
So how did he get there?
He got there through the things he suffered. Each trial left him stronger, more certain than before that he could handle the enemy’s best shot. He learned to rely on the strength and power that Jesus provided, and he learned that it was enough to allow him to cope with anything that came his way.5
By the end of his life there was nothing the enemy could throw at him that he wasn’t prepared for. He’d already been there, done that. He had a promotional T-shirt to prove it. Not even martyrdom could faze him.
That’s what the backside of hardship and suffering does. It teaches us perspective. It takes the fear out of the things that terrify others. It keeps us calm when everyone else is panicking.
Maybe that’s why the marines I’ve known who enter the civilian workforce seldom complain about office politics, workplace inequities, or the things that send others for a loop. They have a different perspective than most of their coworkers. They’ve already been shot at. With bullets, not words. They know what real danger and hardship look like.
Endurance
Endurance is a third quality we’ll sorely need in Babylon. And once again, it’s only found in the boot camp experiences that stretch and push us beyond our comfort zone.
I was a basketball player in high school. At least I thought I was. Though we were a championship team, we didn’t win many games by a large margin. Most of our games were close until the fourth quarter. Then we’d pull away, leaving our opponents in the dust.
Our secret?
Our practices were harder than our games. Much harder.
Our coach ran us to death. When we thought we were too exhausted to run another set of lines, he’d have us run two more. We all thought he was sadistic. There were many days when we wished we played for another coach. But the day we lifted up the championship trophy was not one of them.
We didn’t win because we had more talent than other teams. We won because we had more endurance. When other teams were gassed, we still had plenty left in the tank.
Looking back, I guarantee you we wouldn’t have complained nearly as much if we’d understood the rewards our increasing endurance would soon bring. We might have even thanked our coach instead of cursing him under our breath.
It’s much the same in the spiritual realm.
Endurance reaps great rewards. But it’s no fun getting there.
Perhaps that’s why Paul and James both made a point to encourage us not to give up when stressed or pushed to our limits. They knew what happens to those who cut bait and run away. They also knew what happens to those who hang on and let endurance finish its work. They knew they end up handling the kinds of trials that break most others.6
Confidence and Courage
Endurance produces the mental toughness we’ve come to call confidence and courage, both of which are desperately needed to survive in Babylon.
Any time we overcome something we once feared or dreaded, we walk out with a new level of confidence and courage that comes from conquering something we once feared.
False confidence and bravado are more hot air than reality. They tend to melt away the moment the real enemy shows up.
But the genuine confidence and courage that come on the backside of endurance are different. They run quiet and deep. They don’t melt away when the enemy shows up or wins a battle. They settle in for the long haul, confident that a setback or two is no big deal.
In the athletic world, there’s a reason why a veteran team almost always outperforms an inexperienced team in a big game. It’s the confidence and courage that comes from having been there before. Veterans know that a couple of bad calls, careless turnovers, or even a big deficit can be overcome. They don’t panic. They stick to the game plan, even if it doesn’t seem to be working right away. They know how to win. They have the scars and the trophies to prove it.
In contrast, inexperienced teams tend to wilt at the first sign of trouble. After a couple of miscues, a growing deficit, or a bad break, panic sets in. Their cockiness and hubris disappear, quickly replaced by fear and insecurity. Players sulk, point fingers, or jettison the game plan. In some cases they even turn against each other.
Yet the crushing defeat of an inexperienced team need not be final. In some cases it lays the foundation for future victories. It all depends on how the players respond.
If they curse their luck or fail to take responsibility, they’ll keep on losing.
But if they lick their wounds, take a long look in the mirror, and set out to acquire the things they lack, a crushing defeat can become a major step toward future championships. In fact, it’s amazing how many champions failed miserably the first time they appeared on the big stage.
It’s no different in the spiritual realm. Our failures don’t have to define us. It all depends on how we respond. If we curse our luck, blame others, and fail to take responsibility, we’ll continue to fail. But if we face the facts, accept responsibility, and humbly get back on the right path, our failures can lay the groundwork for future success.
Don’t forget that the vast majority of biblical heroes failed spectacularly at one point or another, many of them more than once. What set them apart was their refusal to let these failures define them. Instead of becoming angry and disillusioned with God, they repented and turned to God. And once they did, he turned losers into champions.
That’s exactly what God wants to do with us today. No matter what we’ve done or where we find ourselves—and no matter if our scars and failures have been self-inflicted or innocently obtained—he wants to turn us into trophy pieces, displaying the incredible depth and power of his immeasurable grace and mercy.
But in order to do so, he asks us to embrace the boot camp experiences he chooses to send our way. It’s how he builds into us the courage and confidence we’ll need in order to face and win the battle.
Granted, it’s not a lot of fun. At times it’s miserable. But it’s the only way to get there. As the writer of Hebrews said:
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.7
So hang in there. No matter what you’re going through at the moment, God hasn’t forgotten you. He has a master plan. He may well be preparing you for a place called Babylon. And if he is, it’s not so that you can survive.
It’s so you can thrive.