A Lesson From a Walk with My Rifle

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.