Fight: The Battleground

Warren E. Berkley

There is opportunity to do good, but there is also temptation to do evil. This is man’s constant predicament. If you are a soldier of Christ this is your predicament too. However, you are equipped and motivated to do good and resist evil (Ephesians 6:10–20; 1 John 3:1–3). This, the soldier of Christ must do on many fronts.

In an ultimate sense, the mind is the immediate battleground. The enemy will use his cunning resources in an effort to change your mind and lead you to desert your Master. Satan will employ his subtle means to try and darken the understanding and harden the heart, so that you will give yourself over to licentiousness, to work all uncleanness and greediness (Ephesians 4:17–19). Whatever his weapon or approach, his aim is to reach and corrupt the mind—so that from it will proceed “evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies,” and such like (Matthew 15:19–20). The enemy wants to infiltrate the mind to plant arguments, excuses and desires which are counter to God’s will and will give rise to overt disobedience (2 Corinthians 10:5–6).

Therefore, let us “present our bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God,” which is our reasonable service. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1–2). As soldiers of Christ, we must guard the mind, for out of it are the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23; Philippians 4:8; 2 John 8).

Though the mind is the immediate battleground, there is another practical perspective that warrants attention. I’ll call these …

The Battlegrounds of Our Time

Places of employment and labor. In many business offices, plants and work places, the conversation expresses a carnal, worldly approach to life. The atmosphere is often filled with sordid, adulterous affairs, the smell of intoxicants, unprincipled suggestions and invitations, vulgar language, and all manner of harassing distractions. Satan will try to use all this to weaken and destroy the soldier of Christ.

Places of commerce and trade. Satan approaches in those places where business transactions occur. He sets up the temptations to gain profit through dishonest means. He encourages the withholding of needed information in order to “close the sale.” He suggests it’s all right to oppress the poor or to take advantage of the rich or cheat on your taxes. As we march into these battlegrounds, let us remember: “Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich” (Proverbs 28:6).

Places of fun and recreation. There are still a few places where Christians can go to relax, have fun and re-create mind and body. But there is still the pressure to get all wrapped up and entangled in carnal things; the temptation to mis-arrange priorities to suit frivolous desires (2 Timothy 2:4; 1 Timothy 4:8).

The secular campus and classroom. On the Lord’s Day, the young Christian may hear that man was made in the image of God—only to hear an “educator” say, a day later, that man is the product of physical/biological forces working by blind impulse or mere whimsy! In many “intellectual, academic” circles, it is unfashionable to make clear distinctions between religious truth and error, between moral right and wrong. So, there is subtle pressure to abandon your commitment to God’s word for fear of being socially obsolete. How do you deal with this? Faith is the victory (1 John 5:4–5; Romans 10:10; Hebrews 11:1).

Where Can We Go?

Where can we go, and say, “The war isn’t here?” Is there some place of absolute isolation from temptation? No. Not even “home, sweet home” or the place where saints assemble in Christ’s name! Regardless of how clever we are, how experienced, how educated, how wise in the Scriptures—we walk from one battleground to another all the time. This is our constant predicament.

So, let us look all around and rally to the point of attack (Nehemiah 4:15–20); let us walk circumspectly (Ephesians 5:15; 1 Peter 5:8). Remember that you can bear any temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13; James 4:7).

What great and good thing was ever done without conflict and the exertion of effort? Wheat doesn’t grow without planting and plowing; money is not earned without care, attention and labor. And heaven, above all, is not to be reached without the cross and the battle. ONWARD, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS!^[1]

---

^[1] Berkley, W. E. (1985). Fight: The Battleground. In D. Bowman (Ed.), Christianity Magazine: August 1985, Volume 2, Number 8 (D. Bowman, Ed.) (12). Jacksonville, FL: Christianity Magazine.