Spiritual Paintball

So, Thursday the Youth Group went Paintballing, and we had a great time, getting shot--a lot. It was kinda painful, and not quite what I expected. Only a small few of us had ever been before, but we weren't alone. We didn't rent the facility, so there were others there, and those others obviously made paintballing a large part of their lives. You could tell when they walked in with a small case, opened it up, and screwed together a paintball gun that very closely resembled an M-16 Assault Rifle. Intimidating to say the least. But as I said, we had a lot of fun. I was thinking about the experience, and saw, as I tend to do, many parallels between paintballing and our Spiritual Life.

As I considered the night, I realised there was a very sharp and distinct line drawn between those that were really good, and those that...well, weren't. So I tried to discern what made an effective killing machi...er...paintball player, and concluded on three qualities:

1. Effective paintballers are the ones with the really big guns. Well, maybe not necessarily big guns, but they were the ones who owned their own gun. They knew it, what it felt like, how it worked, and most importantly, what it was capable of.

By contrast, most of us had never seen a paintball gun before, and had enough trouble figuring out how to switch the safety off so that we could actually shoot.

2. Effective paintballers are the ones who do it a lot. By that, I mean that some of them seemed to play professionally, or at least wish they could. They were experienced, knowing the strategies, surroundings, and techniques to be the most effective.

This was a stark contrast with the rest of us, shooting wildly without any target or goal.

3. Effective paintballers are the ones who would go all out. They were not hiding in fear, but boldly attacking. They knew their weapons, they knew their surroundings, and they knew their gameplan. And they just did it, not worrying about the paintballs whizzing past them.

Then there were us newbies, cowering in a corner screaming in fear!

Seeing those differences, who do you think woulda won?!

So as I reflected on these three qualities, I saw how they applied to our lives as Christians. St. John saw the same thing, in his Revelation. In Chapter 12, verses 10 and 11, he writes, "Then I heard a voice shout from heaven, 'Salvation and power and empire for eveer and ever have been won by our God, and all authority for His Christ, now that the accuser, who accused our brothers day and night before our God, has been brought down. They have overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, the word to which they bore witness, because even in the face of death they did not cling to life.'"

So how do the Saints overcome the Devil?

1. Effective Christians are the ones who own and use the Ultimate Weapon. The Blood of the Lamb is the mightiest weapon in the Christian arsenal. Through Christ's death on the Cross, our sins are forgiven, we are made completely new creatures, and Satan is defeated! But just like we had to continually monitor and reload ammo into our guns, we continually need to bring ourselves before the Altar, to appropriate Christ's Blood to our lives. In the Eucharist, we receive His Body and Blood, through Communion with Him. He gives us the Grace and the Strength to stand against the enemy!

2. Effective Christians are the ones who walk often and closely with God. By that, I mean we must live out the Relationship with God that Christ purchased for us on the Cross. Revelation 12:11 gives the second weapon as "the word to which they bore witness." In order to bear witness to something, you need to have experienced it. We need to stay close to Christ, to dwell in His Sacred Heart. When we know the Power of Christ in our lives, then we can be able to tell others. This is strategic in a number of ways: 1-We won't be sinning when we're with Him. 2-Others will hear about His wonderful love and hopefully believe. 3-The Devil is defeated as he loses more and more souls back to God! But we need to develop and walk in that Relationship, and we need to be willing to share it...no matter what!

3. Effective Christians are the ones who would go all out. The final part of the verse is that those saints who defeat Satan are the ones who are willing to suffer and even to die for Christ. We need to be willing to step out and stand up against the Big Bad. All over the world and throughout history, the Church that is strongest is the one that is suffering persecution. Looking at the world today we see it in China, in the Middle East, and more. In the Ancient Church, this principle was so evident that one church leader, Tertullian, remarked that "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Here and now, we aren't facing the same kind of persecution--though the way things are going in this country, I'm not sure it's too far off! But we need to be careful in our comfortable society, that we don't become fat, flabby couch-potato Christians! We need to be willing to play a reckless game of Spiritual Paintball! We need to be willing to step out in faith.

Jesus tells us, "If anyone wants to be a follower of Mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow Me. Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for My sake will find it." --Matthew 16:24-25

Being a Christian can hurt. But as the Gallino-meister said at paintball, "Hey, no pain, no gain, right?"

Jesus would agree.