Gospel Boots on the Ground

Warfare today is different from the past. Military powers prefer to utilize their technological advantage whenever possible, preferring armed drones and cruise missiles, which can be operated remotely, to actually committing soldiers to the battlefield. Deploying troops to a battle zone is referred to as having “boots on the ground”. Despite the preference, military authorities still recognize that sometimes the best way, or even the only way, to get the job done is to send in the troops. 

This idea of “boots on the ground” has traction with me when I think of the Christian mission in the world. We want to let people know the difference that Jesus makes. We want people to see the light and come to share in the same hope that we have, because of our faith. We want to see people healed, transformed, set free and happy in reconciled relationships. We know that the Gospel can do all of that! 

So how do we get our message out there? We can televise it. Some Christians do that. We can plaster it all over social media. Some prefer that. We can invite people to come to church with us so that they can see and experience it for themselves. That’s a good option. We can write about it, even blog about it, in the hope that someone somewhere will read it and be drawn in by the message. (Hint, hint). All good stuff.

But I love the image used by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians. In describing how they should prepare themselves for living out the Christian life in this world. He wrote, “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth bucked around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:14-15). Did you catch that? Part of the outfit every Christians is supposed to be wearing is gospel boots!

Someone once said that, out of all the “armour” described in Ephesians 6, only two pieces are not defensive in nature. One is the sword of the Spirit (6:17) and the other is the footwear. Paul tells us to slip our feet into the footwear that best prepares us to proclaim the gospel in our world. I take that to mean that we are to be equipped and ready to introduce the gospel wherever we place our feet in life. In other words, you and I are Christ’s boots on the ground.

And what is the gospel of peace? That’s what we’re learning about this year in our theme of “Restoring the Kingdom”. One of my favourite places in Scripture where I think we find the gospel (or good news) of God in its fullest expression is 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself …” We bear truth to that reconciliation ourselves, and we offer the good news of reconciliation to all others through Christ. It is so inclusive! God has reconciled all things to himself in Christ! And that is what we get to share with people everywhere we go. 

The good news is meant to touch everything. Every person, every place. To get that news into every crook and cranny of our generation we can’t just rely on a remotely operated aerial barrage. We need street fighting that goes house to house. And for that, we need to put the boots on the ground.