If you’ve ever been in the Army (or have been around those who have been), you probably know what “TDY” (Temporary Duty) is. It’s when you’re assigned somewhere for duty other than your permanent duty station – you guessed it – temporarily. This might be a few days or a few months; it might be relatively easy or an extreme hardship; maybe  for training or simply filling in wherever the army says the need is. Any which way, it’s part of military life that you’re in your country’s service, and while you can put in requests for certain assignments, you ultimately go where your orders take you, like it or not.

There are parallels to our lives as Christians in this. First, in the bigger view,this world is not our “permanent station”.  The apostle Paul tells us that “our citizenship is in heaven.”[1] The author of Hebrews tells us of heroes of the faith like Abraham, who was looking forward to “that city whose architect and builder is God”, and many others who “confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”[2] Those of us who are Christians are in the service of the King in enemy-controlled territory. We can go AWOL (absent without leave) like the prophet Jonah did, but we can read in the Bible how that turned out for him.[3] Or, like Paul, we can be “ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us”.[4]

Second, on the more immediate view, wherever you find yourself in this world is a temporary duty station where you represent the King. Not that you can represent, or that you should represent. If you call yourself a Christian, then you do represent Christ everywhere you are. The only question is how you represent Him. So what would happen if we accurately represented Him more often? Would there be less cheating and fewer cliques and bullies at our schools if our students acted justly, opposed the proud, and defended the weak? Would there be less “office politics” at our jobs if we lived with integrity beyond reproach? Would there be fewer broken homes if we husbands loved our wives “as Christ loved the church” and saw our children as a “blessing from the Lord” entrusted to our care for a brief time? Would there be more sportsmanship at sporting events (on and off the field) if we saw our opponents as fellow humans created in God’s image and inherently worthy of respect? Is this the easy way? No, but the right way usually isn’t the easy way. Perhaps that’s why the apostle Paul told Timothy to “endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” In the next verse he tells him that no soldier gets involved in civilian affairs, for he wants to please his commander.[5] Indeed, we are on our Commander’s business at all times, and it likely will be hard at times, but also worth it.

I remember leaving Basic Training in my Class A’s (army dress uniform) that I was supposed to wear for the flight home. I was instructed to not do anything “stupid” that might disgrace the uniform. As Christians, we are always “in uniform”.  That’s why Paul told the Corinthians “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”[6] So how do you view your current “assignment”? Do you think of it as a little taste of hell to suffer through, or as an opportunity to be a light in a dark place? Are your coworkers/classmates/teammates just people to put up with, or are they quite possibly the reason for your being stationed where you are in the first place? Don’t miss the opportunities God grants you because you thought you were “off duty”.

[1] Philippians 3:20, NASB.
[2] Hebrews 11:10, 13, NASB.
[3] Jonah 1, NASB (The whole book’s only 4 short chapters – just read the whole thing).
[4] 2 Corinthians 5:20, NASB.
[5] 2 Timothy 2:3-4, NASB.
[6] 1 Corinthians 10:31, NASB.