The Battle Prize

The Battle Prize

“Let no one rob you of your battle prize through false humility and angel worship.” Col. 2:18 (Norw.).

Virtually any time you go to a meeting, have a conversation or do a job, you either win or lose the battle prize. In God’s light there is always plenty of darkness to fight against. The flesh clings to its bad habits and worldliness long after a person has come to faith in Christ. Often people who are highly esteemed because of their learning, upbringing or wealth are given preference over other poorer souls. On this point many Christians lose their battle prize. This sin rampages through every assembly, bringing judgment and death in its wake. People are as far from winning the battle prize as east is from west. Striving to win this prize would be regarded as unchristian and unloving and would result in being excluded. In certain circles, people appoint a brother or sister with a strong human spirit and with impressive carnal abilities, and then they worship them like an angel. In other words, they idolize and serve them in every imaginable way in preference to others. It seems as though some people cannot live without having such an “angel,” while others are not happy unless they are being worshiped. All of this is and always will be flesh, even if it has a motherly or fatherly sheen of religiosity over it. People make flesh their strength, and their heart departs from the Lord. They end up with an “angel” as their head instead of Christ. They have lost a battle prize.

There is no battle prize without a tried faith. 1 Pet. 1:7. God sends us trials to test our faith and our faithfulness. To become effective, useful servants in the church, we must win the prize, and God has given us enough light and power to do this. But if our heart and mind are turned to carnal gain, we will never win the battle prize. This is why Jesus said so emphatically, “What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” [Emphasis added].

Basking in another person’s reputation will cause you to lose your battle prize. Jesus had no form or comeliness that we might desire Him. This clearly shows us that people enjoy being with important people, and they worship them as angels. The world reeks of respect of persons. Shop owners tell their employees to leave the customer they are serving and attend first to those people who are highly esteemed. They bow and scrape and bring out their best merchandise for them. The amazing thing is that these customers generally get what they want for a lower price than those who are not highly esteemed. This explains the saying that if you want to go shopping and get a bargain, then dress up in your finest clothes. Watch and you will see these fine shopkeepers, who have led so many by the nose, get led by the nose themselves. People have inherited these tendencies from their forefathers, and they cling to them for years, long after they have been saved from base sins. Some people are so bound by the respect of persons that they wince if a person uses an unsophisticated expression, even though what that person is saying is extremely spiritual. To satisfy such carnal, finicky creatures, you need at least to have graduated from seminary!

We must make it a habit to win the battle prize. This also requires us to commit into God’s hands all the things that, humanly speaking, we want to work out our way. Take up the battle against this carnal unrest in your own body. Rest in God’s leading in everything. God gives us plenty of opportunities to win the battle prize and become an overcomer, but usually people bow their neck under the yoke of bondage and become the tail instead of the head. They become incapable of serving the Lord. Fear of man constantly steals the battle prize from otherwise God-fearing souls. A gossiping tongue can carry away sacks full of stolen battle prizes. A salivating glutton gobbles up the battle prize and lets his stomach control him. Such people are not walking on the new and living way through the flesh. Think! We must go through the flesh, through the fleshly lusts which war against our soul. The way has been made, and the battle prize is already prepared for us.

Dear soul, strive to win the battle prize. Even though it may be a bit difficult at first, it will quickly become a habit for you. You will become determined to win it. This habit is an indescribably good one that brings you joy in your heart and puts marrow in your bones. It will give you an abundance of good fruits. Do not try to come through every situation and relationship maintaining a fleshly peace, but rather set your face like a flint and separate the precious from the vile. Then the same can be said about you as about Jeremiah: “I have set you as a tester and refiner among My people.” Jer. 6:27 (Norw.).