No Greater Call - David’s Battle
If you're going to be a great coach in sports, you generally need to be a great motivator. The team rises to the level of the coach's motivation. When your team is an entire nation that is under heavy attack, the coach had better be one incredible motivator. The nation was Great Britain. The time was the beginning of WW ll, when the team seemed like it was losing badly and the coach was the Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He may have been the most inspiring leader of the 20th Century as he motivated his nation to make tremendous sacrifices and win a seemingly unwinnable victory. In those early days of the war, he desperately needed the cooperation of the leaders of Britain's coal industry. Their extra sacrificial efforts would be critical to keeping the war effort going. The way he did it was masterful. Churchill asked those industry and union leaders to "picture the parade" at the end of the war. He asked them to look at the proud British sailors who kept the sea lanes open, and the soldiers who valiantly fought the land war, and the airmen who heroically won the battle in the skies, followed by the coal miners of Britain whose work made those victories possible. Churchill said, "They will not be in military uniform, but they will have won a place in the victory parade."
The ultimate war, the one with the most at stake, is still raging. It's the war between the forces of Christ and the forces of darkness for the lives of the people who the Savior atoned for. That battle has never been more intense here in the last days, especially as it approaches its climactic stages. Here's the question, will there be a place for you in the great victory parade of our Savior, Lord and King?
I Samuel 30 relates the story of David, had just won a mighty victory. He left behind 200 men who were just too exhausted to go to that battle, so he assigned them to guard the supplies. Some of those who had just fought the battle didn't think that those 200 should have a share in the spoils of the victory. But David, who was goodly and wise in judgement, thought otherwise. The verse says, "The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike."
There's an exciting Biblical principle here. The Lord considers those who fight the battle and those who support them as equal contributors and equal shareholders in the victory.
In Phillipians 4:17, Paul urged those believers to support his ministry so they also could take part in the "fruit that may abound to your account." In the accounting of God, every person Paul reached for Christ, his supporters reached for Christ, and were given credit to their account.
Can you just imagine arriving at the judgement seat and the Lord showing you your account, and you're asking, "But, Lord, where did all these names come from? I don't know these people." The Lord might say, "They are those who you reached, who you touched with the gospel, they are those you helped, you led these people to me. Would you like to meet them now?"
You may feel like your part in the Lord's work is insignificant. As you meet each one you say, "All I did was teach Sunday school to her, I just drove that young man to church one day, all I did was pray for that missionary, I just cooked a meal for that family, all I do it just work behind the scenes, greeting folks with a hand shake and a smile."
(How great shall be your joy with them. D&C 18:15,16)
The share of the man who stayed with the supplies (who worked in an unglamorous, no glory role) is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike. Now YOU may feel your work is insignificant, but the Lord doesn't. He promises an eternal reward even for a cup of cold water given in His name! Nephi put it this way, very plain and simple, that "by grace we are saved, after all we can do." (2 Nephi 25;23) If all we can do is guard the supplies, then we will be rewarded with an equal share of the eternities and a place in the victory parade.
We must not minimize the eternal value of the work we do for the Lord, of our part in the greatest battle of all. Even if we may not have worn the uniform of a soldier, there is going to be a place of honor for us in the victory parade!