The
rifle is often termed as your “wife” in the SAF, probably because receiving a
SAR-21 for the first time during the arms parade could be paralleled to how a
husband feels whilst receiving his wife from her father, with much thrill and a
passionate promise to take care of the rifle, or “wife”, “WITH MY LIFE!” Well,
I doubt my ability to uphold that promise much longer, now that begin to see
why my sergeants calls them a burden.
Having
to walk 3km with your rifle on a road march is not exactly a totally pleasant
experience, given that I was already worn out from the few weeks worth of
physical training. [Yes, I’m in Physical Training Phase (PTP)] Apart from the
sweltering sun, discomfort of being drenched in your sweat and a helmet that
gives you headaches, you have to deal with the shoulder ache from the “irritating”
weight of this rifle - 3.4kg I reckoned - slung on your right shoulder for the
entire hour along with a vest with about 3 liters of water in the water bag and
water bottle each, and that’s just the start of many other road marches.
Despite
the aches and the exhaustive walk to maintain within the file, I’m quite
thankful for road marches likes these because they remind me of what it means
love other people. Quite random but here’s how I see it.
Drawing a parallel with my rifle/”wife”, we often see of how couples (in the media especially) are so passionate on their marriage day - promising to love and care for one another till death us part – and soon after files for a divorce when difficulties arises. Much like how I now dislike and don’t wish to have my rifle just a few weeks after I got it, except that I cannot divorce this “wife” just yet.
We
sometimes define love as a feeling or emotion, it comes and it goes. When it’s
gone, it’s gone, reminds me of David Foster’s song”: “After the Love is Gone”.
The problem with this definition is not just an increase in break-up cases or
divorce rates, but more so, in the broader context, an extremely picky choice of who or maybe what we
want to love, when we want to love, and even how we want to love. In other
words, we love someone (not excluding friends and family members) when we feel like it, or at our own convenience/ enjoyment/ pleasure.
I used to indirectly affirm
that, but recently while having a discussion in my bible study/cell group, I
found out that the bible had never define or describe love as a mere feeling,
but more interestingly, phrase them as commands, and also suggest that actions must be taken too. Have a
look at some of these verses:
Deuteronomy 6:5:
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your might.
Leviticus
19:34:
You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as
the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I
am the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy
11:1:
You shall therefore love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules,
and his commandments always.
Matthew
5:43-44:
You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate
your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Mark
12:30-31:
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor
as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
Luke 6:35:
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return,
and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is
kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
Romans
12:10:
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in
showing honor.
Ephesians
5:2:
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice
to God.
I John
4:11:
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
(There
are more, but I’ll leave it to you guys to read them in context.)
The question I was puzzled with was: if love was just a feeling, how can we be commanded to feel something do not feel like feeling? Brain cramped right? As I read these verses again, it seems evident that love requires a certain action to be taken notwithstanding our feelings, and emotions and I suppose moods as well.
While
love may involve intense emotions and feelings, love should never be equated to
these things that are temporary and prone to discrepancies. Because love is
founded by God - whose love endures forever – and also made for His glory as
the loving Heavenly Father, and thus as his creation, we are therefore made to
reflect and display that too.
Now as I
redefine love for my own life, I am slowly learning and understand how then it
is possible for one to love even those who persecute you. It is because love was never a feeling or emotion to begin in the first place, neither is it dependent on these. I have been freed and commanded to love; I
do not base my love on how I feel or even what immediate benefits I get in
return.
So
whether or not my bible study contacts are interested in listening to God’s
word through me, whether or not my family chooses to show concern for me or
not, whether my sergeants demands certain high standards of me or whether or not
my friends like or dislike me or some times insensitively make fun of me, I’ll
learn to love them just the same because God first loved me, redeemed me with a
new life to now display that same love to others.
I like
how Alan Catchpoole succinctly and practically defined Love (for people):
“Love is an intelligent willingness to do what is best for the other person.”
Most of
us would agree that it is important to do what’s best for others, but the
important thing here is that we must also be intelligent to know what then is
best for those we love, it may something that they do not necessary like but
have to do. Moreover, we don’t do it grudgingly just simply because we are
commanded to, but because we want to do so, because we were also loved the same
way by our God.
This then
defines why I did some of the things I tried do (but often didn’t do too well):
Cleaning my bunk and the toilets that others may have a cleaner and healthier place to stay in and rest. Apart from avoiding more trouble and frustration of everyone by being punished by my sergeants, which is a secondary reason in attempt to maintain the unity of everyone.
Helping
the family with the housework, and handling my own laundry, that they may have
more time to rest from their busy work and recuperate and work hard for the
rest of the week.
Preparing
for bible study not just with the people I’m teaching, but also for my teachers
not just based on respect for them, but also that I may of encouragement to
everyone in the group as the others encourage me.
Sms-ing
or whatsapp some friends to hear them out and ask for prayer request, and if
within my ability and if needed, give advice to certain issues I resolved in my
own life.
P.S. To my non-Christian friend out
there, this is also why we Christians may tend to be aggressive towards you
with our faith, because we know and tasted the best gift of God’s love for us
when he chose to save and forgive despite our rebellion against him. Thus knowing
of the best gift, we therefore eagerly want to do what we know is best for you
by sharing with you this gift of love from God.
These are but some simple things I resolve to do in the midst of my army days. They are not exhaustive for there are indeed many more ways that we can show love to people, some of them involving things which are of great inconvenience for most of us. especially when it comes to loving the same people for a life-time.
I suppose I'm not the only one here struggling and working out resolutions here, so for the readers who are also struggling to resolve this issue like
myself, I would like to pray alongside with you that we may continue to remember this resolution of love
we have learned, from God’s Word, that we may consistently put to practice
our love for God - which is to delight in Him - and for people as well, as we live our lives as Christians in
various places, to serve, to rely and to trust in God, so that He may be seen more clearly in and through our
lives, especially through this love we first received from Him.
