God’s Drill Sergeant
I t was May 28, 1968, the day I arrived at Basic Combat Training after enlisting in the Army! It did not take long for the training to kick in! In 1968 we were being trained to fight the Viet Nam War! Fortunately for me I trained to fight in Viet Nam and never had to go there to fight. We received all the clothing and equipment it took to be a soldier, primary among that equipment was an M-14 assault rifle.
The first day of training we were standing in a military formation with our M-14’s on our shoulders. The drill sergeant screamed at a recruit, “What’s that on your shoulder son?” The young trooper came back with, “that’s my gun drill sergeant!”
The drill sergeant came back with, “That is not your gun, son! That is your weapon!” He commanded him to assume the “front leaning rest” position (the position from which push- ups were done) over his weapon and do 25 pushups over his weapon kissing it each time he went down yelling “I love you weapon!”
The training was under way to fight a war. My M-14 was my weapon! I never forgot that! That training is vivid today over 50 years later.
God trains the Christ Follower and uses the Scripture as His drill sergeant! 2 Timothy 3:1617 teaches us how God trains us; “16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (NIV)
God’s training manager, or His drill sergeant is the Scripture, which is God- Breathed! That means that the Scripture is breathed directly from God’s mouth into a man’s mind who then writes it down. The entire Bible is Scripture and comes directly from God! It is God’s word and is his trainer!
I have been in God’s basic training program since January of 1972! Every day, with few exceptions the Scriptures have been my trainer all those years. Today, I rise at 5:00 am and do my prayer time and Bible study before I go to work.
Notice that the Scripture is useful for teaching! My drill sergeant taught me that my M-14 was my weapon! God teaches me that I can take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17) and do battle! I find that the more I invest in Bible study the more I can use the word of God to win my battles!
Notice that the Scripture is useful for rebuking! The drill sergeant rebuked the soldier for calling his weapon his gun! There are still plenty of times that God uses the Scriptures to rebuke me today! I have often said that,” I am still a sinner and I can prove it,” and when I do he rebukes me with the Scripture. I am still in training!
The Scripture is useful for correcting! The young recruit needed to know that the gun was his weapon. He needed to be corrected! I still need correcting and the Scripture is my drill sergeant to do just that!
The Scripture trains us in righteousness! The word of God trains me to think and do righteousness! Before the drill sergeant was done with us we knew how to use the M-14! He trained us in battle, as the scripture trains us in righteousness.
When my drill sergeant was done training us we were trained for battle as soldiers. God trains us for his battle by equipping us thoroughly for every good work!
There is a big difference between basic combat training and God’s training program. Our drill sergeant finished his work with us in 8 weeks. God’s training lasts for life and is never done. Join me and let God go to work training you for every good work by studying your Bible every day! Tom West is a retired pastor working in auto sales at Porterville Ford and can be reached for comment at 602.758.1168