By Clifton Angel Via Bulletin Gold
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 Amy 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 ALLL 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 mny 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.”