Be All You Can Be.

 

By Clifton Angel
    From 1980 to 2001 (and now brought back in 2023), the popular recruiting slogan has been used to positively encourage that it is only in the United States Army that you can “Be All You Can Be.” While the U.S. Army is pertinent to our nation, it is not the army where one truly can reach his fullest capacity. Rather, the Lord’s Army is the only place where you truly can “Be All You Can Be.”    First, it is only in the Lord’s Army that the Captain of the Host is perfect (cf. Josh 5:14; Heb 2:10). He’s been through the drills; He’s passed every test. He has experienced every temptation that His soldiers can experience, and yet remained without error through it all. He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15).    Furthermore, it is only in the Lord’s Army that the Captain of the Host has all power. No doubt, captains in the U.S. Army have great authority and ability, but they do not have complete authority and ability. In the Lord’s Army, the Captain has ALL power. He is on record as saying to some of his soldiers, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt 28:18). For this reason, Paul wrote, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph 6:10–11).    Finally, it is pertinent that we understand that it is only in the Lord’s Army that the Captain of the Host offers ultimate protection. The U.S. Army is strong, but protection lacks in comparison to the Lord’s Army. Even with the great strength of the U.S. Army, the faithful soldier can lose and the entire nation can lose. Such is not so in the Lord’s Army. For, He is the Captain of our eternal salvation from sin (Heb 2:10), and He has guaranteed victory for the faithful soldier: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Rev 3:21).    Faith, repentance, confession, and baptism for remission of sins grants you an entrance into the Lord’s Army. Are you in His Army? If yes, are you endeavoring to “Be All You Can Be”? “Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Col 3:17). As we sing, “I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery; I may never fly over the enemy, but I’m in the Lord’s Army.”

- Clifton Angel preaches for the Coldwater Church of Christ in Coldwater, MS. He may be contacted through that congregation's website: http://www.coldwatercofc.com/