The battle at the Alamo Mission can easily be described as a bloody, horrific defeat for the Texan forces. One could even call it a massacre, as nearly every Texan was slaughtered. There was no retreat. There were no prisoners save a handful of women and children, most of whom had just been orphaned and widowed. The suffering must’ve been apparent in the eyes of those prisoners as the Mexican troops escorted them out of the ruined church. The suffering of all the troops there during the battle was all too real. Of course, such a “defeat” led to a great victory only months later, when a battered Mexican army who had lost a good deal of forces at the Alamo, had marched over a hundred miles, and had barely settled in to rest for a spell, was brought to its knees at the battle of San Jacinto just north of Galveston Bay. Without the Alamo, there would be no Texas.
The Christian life too will be filled with suffering. Not just a generic suffering, but suffering wrought by our enemies: persecution. Paul made this abundantly clear to young Timothy when he said in chapter three of his second letter, “all those who seek to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Now many in the church have interpreted that in myriad erroneous ways. In the early days of the church, monastics of all different stripes imposed great suffering upon themselves, thinking that doing so was a fulfilment of God’s promise of suffering for the elect. Some would thrash themselves with whips. Some would deprive themselves of all “worldly” things, even that which God commands us to enjoy (Ecclesiastes 5:19, for instance). In perhaps the oddest instance, some would give themselves to live years, if not their entire lives, on top of a tall pillar called a style (and thus giving the name stylites to such men).
Today too there are people who interpret this idea wrongly. They see suffering in the Christian life as something to be pursued or admired. Now I do not want to belittle suffering’s place in the Bible, for when it happens in the right context, the sufferer is worthy of admiration. Our Lord suffered much, yet He did not thrash Himself. He did not seek suffering out as an end in and of itself. He went to the cross knowing the suffering that awaited Him there, even the tortuous death. But He went because He knew what would be accomplished: the reconciliation of His elect to God. Yet some in the Church would have us run headlong into the wilderness, ready to suffer in the desert, wandering, starving, and burning up, and for what? Is this what the Lord calls us to? To a wilderness wandering akin to what was meant as severe punishment for the rebellious Israelite people who refused to enter the holy land?
No. Instead, the Lord expects us to fight. Only a chapter before our verse in 2 Timothy, Paul told Timothy that he must act as a soldier, keeping his mind focused on the goal, and endeavoring in everything to please his General. A soldier will suffer, not because it is his goal, but because his goal is worth the suffering. A soldier fights for the advancement of the kingdom which he fights for. He revels in being counted worthy to suffer for the kingdom, not because he is a masochist, but because the cause he fights for, or in our instance, the One he fights for, is more lovely than the suffering is painful.
So, what does that look like? It means we continue to push forward the kingdom, spreading the gospel, following the law of God. This passage is not meant to give us the endurance to be wilderness wanderers, but the courage to be soldiers for Christ Jesus, putting on the armor of God, and ready to swing the sword, that is, the Word of God, His Scriptures. Our enemies are ready to strike, and yet we press forward. Those who preach suffering as an end in and of itself, ironically, tend to over-emphasize Paul’s Romans 13 passage, saying we ought to humbly submit to the government in all things. Such a theology will actually lead to less suffering. Yes, we do respect the institution of government that the Lord has put in place, but we march forward courageously in spite of what the government might do, even if it will threaten us with death. And if it stands aside, or better yet, if it bends the knee to King Jesus, praise be to God! We may be men in the parapets of the Alamo, or the men on horseback surprising the Mexican camp. Let us not take either our defeat or victory in a particular moment as indication of our doing something wrong. It is not triumphalist to rejoice when God grants the victory, just as it is not defeatist to praise God to be worthy to suffer for His kingdom even in a moment of defeat. Let us continue fighting, knowing that we serve a Victorious King, and that one day all will be made new.
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