“14 Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. 19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” 20 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” (2 Tim 2:14-26 ESV)

Majorly set up, Christian mindset adopts wrong parables at times, notions of upward ceilings, of limited mobility, of exchange-based economics of scope. Majorly set up, the juncture is ours to claim: that Christian Perfection means something of substance. People, some are of innate Quality and Hasten to Do No Wrong.

We vote with our feet, then, when we clamor around Jesus of Nazareth, a Type of one—one who has come—if ever there was one. That is, our Chief Pastor is a little less doldrums and boredom than we might think: His ministry “made sense” and “coached” us. It relegated itself minus any official church Body, to be the limbs—this in a world already learning new-fangled parables of Community, of Culture Clash (Judaism meets Rome), of irreplicable Climate for Him to come about Meaning Something. Today our notion of “Body”… it encapsulates a culture clash most nouveau, the Social Technologies strengthening the Feeble to be headship and helm, and connecting the Peoples to be Body and Strength.

Absence of Sin, then, in that aforementioned Pundit of Christ, is inviting us to rampant Prayer and Meditation around One Fact: that Christ pulled off the Impossible, coaching us right on through the compromised scenario, the sin indulged, the temptation voiced.

Temporality, momentary flights of fight and soldiering: these earn Permanence in soldier’s gestalt, mindset, owned Seconds. Our whole world now revolves around that Induction: that what Meaningful Perfection we observed in our Head, this is now Our Mantle to own. More, we enter the fray meaningfully, because it is greater than our capacities to Own and to Manage. The trials… they are too abrupt and hateful for our simpler spirits to counter. We must dwell in Home Base, and fight on Home Front, even amidst that instinctual aspect of any good and moralized Soldier, to doubt oneself, to pull back from the conflict, to say, “Who am I to judge?”.

Yet fight we do, because the strange Fact is of a Christianity that Hates on others because of its own compromised status. People have compromised and made bargains with rules and disciplines, and the rubric of Coming Together… this is Lost in the hustle. We neglect to come alongside a brother or sister in Christ, because we do not hear from them the same frustrated and compromised Efforts to earn salvation. That is, on some level we might resent our own Faith Testimony a bit.

Christians also are tempted to their former selves, by agents of Atheism and Free-Thinking. So, to that doctrine: “the gifts and the callings of God are irrevocable…”: well, am I today feeling particularly “inspired”? If not, maybe those gifts and callings have been revoked…

The soldier is in top form, all that notwithstanding, as a Witness to a plethoric and mellifluous Doctrine, one that catches wind and germinates, grows unlimited and Beauteous: of Headship, of a Loving and Stern Father in Heaven, and the zero-sum-game… ain’t relevant, here: economies Flourish and a buck is made on nothing but a penny at a time. Insofar as we deeply assure each of our patrons, our friends, our boots-on-the-ground that God is for us. Indeed, we are no royalty but said Boots-on-the-Ground, even as Children of the Most High. And in that solemn hour of testimony, so much is aloft and soaring, that we do well to Remember our friends who are compromised by sin and addiction, yet who have attained to a Christian perfection of outlay. Who flatter and declare their love, yet do so with Much experience and reflection on what is Appropriate. Such are each of us, who go down that route called “Lonesome” (but see! Friends everywhere!), who go down that route called “Penitent” (but see! Healing in the air!), who go down that route called “Servant” (but see! Servant-Leaders!).

Therefore it is all actually, factually, going to be Okay, as we know for whom we fight, and as we know for what we stand. More, presenting sins, fears of a recurring fantasy or wrong-headed dream… fears we have no control over our desires or are tempted in company… these things are Blessed Realizations, because immediately we have Christ by our side, who solemnly celebrated Life Together around the campfire, and had joyous mirth and laughter to point out our sins, because a little humor and it all starts to seem Lightness of Being. The fact it can be seen then forgotten: this is Healing in its own right.