Recently, I watched a movie titled ‘The Rescue’, about a rescue unit within the Chinese Coast Guard, exemplifying their bravery and expertise in their action-packed rescues.
What intrigued me during the show was how calm and confident the members of the rescue team were during their missions.
Every execution was precise and spot-on in terms of accomplishing the mission.
It made me wonder about how they made it look so smooth and simple, when in actual fact, every decision made was vital, risk-calculated and life-threatening, with no allowance of errors or misjudgments.
Well, my questions were well answered as the movie illustrated how the rescuers were trained in their day-to-day life.
The training was strict, intensive and demanding.
The training was always nothing less than what was expected of them during a real crisis, yet never able to prepare them with exact solutions to the problems which they will encounter.
Experience matters. Passion matters. And Training matters most!
God brought to my attention how this mirrored our lives as Christians who have been entrusted with the Great Commission, a mission that requires much training and experience.
The bible says to train a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it even when he is old (Proverbs 22:6).
Parents are well-informed about this verse, commonly used in the parenting community when it comes to the upbringing of children. The question is:
“Are our children really trained?”
Training is both hard and heart work.
Training is tough and tiring.
Training starts right at the day of birth and carries on till the day we see our Lord Jesus in the clouds when He comes back for His church.
As a father of two, I have the privilege of having personally trained my daughters up, together with my wife.
I say with much confidence and conviction that children can be trained.
In fact, they need to be trained and be trained in God’s ways at that.
Children can be trained to sleep, to eat all types of food (especially vegetables), to obey their parents, to be active, to love nature, to love others, to be kind, to be humble, to have empathy and the list goes on.
Children can be trained to behave, think, act and live with a Kingdom mindset from young.
Children need to be trained to thrive in a world that they don’t belong to and yet are required to be in.
What about marriages?
Have you ever wondered why divorce cases are sky high?
Let me use some analogies to explain.
Why must one go through training and obtain a driving license before one can drive a car on the road?
Why must training to be certified as a First Aider be a requirement before one can administer first aid to others?
One needs to be trained in order to have knowledge, expertise and confidence in his/her field of expertise.
Likewise, I believe that many marriages fail or go into a crisis because of the lack of training.
Why is there a need to go for marriage counselling when problem arises when there has been no evidence of marriage training in the first place?
Every single one of us is always a work in progress, in the process of training to be able to finish the race which God has marked out for us.
Apostle Paul urges all believers to desire to go through a lifetime of training because of the eternal crown that is awaiting us at the end of the race.
1 Corinthians 9:25 (NIV)
“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”
Training is much needed at any and every stage of our lives when it comes to becoming spiritually mature in the Kingdom of God.
And as the saying goes, the earlier the better and the sooner you’re trained, the more prepared you will be to fight this good fight of faith.
Reflection & Prayer pointers:
- Take some time to think about the different areas of your life.
Is there an area in which you would desire to have more ‘training’ in place? - How do you think the training model looks like when it comes to being a disciple of Christ?
What are some training plans which we need to have as a disciple of Christ? - Commit your life to God and ask Him to reveal to you His training plans tailored for your life.
Pray and ask God to give you the grace, strength and perseverance to stay committed.
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