This is the third in a series of articles on military Christians and life priorities.  The first addressed the necessity of the priority of God in a Christian’s life, and looked into the potential responses that others may have to that priority.  The second emphasized the importance of a military Christian’s family.  The third priority of a military Christian should be his career.

A military Christian’s third priority should be his job.  The job priority means assessing how decisions and actions will impact work, professional advancement, and a career.  For fighter pilots in particular, the word “job” is used and placed here in priority for a very specific reason:  being a fighter pilot is a job, it is not a life.

Fighter pilots generally enjoy their jobs and excel at them.  In the end, though, it is still just a job.  If a Christian fighter pilot awakes tomorrow and can no longer be a fighter pilot, he shouldn’t go out and commit suicide, wallow in self-pity or be unable to see his existence outside of a jet.  There is more to this life.  While there would be disappointment, the military Christian must be able to stand up straight and ask God, “What would You have me do now?”

A Christian’s job as a fighter pilot is not the definition of who he is; it is but a fraction of what he is.  It is also not a Christian’s duty to be a fighter pilot.  A military job is often confused with duty.  By virtue of choosing a military job, fighter pilots have volunteered and vowed to accomplish their duty.  There are times when a Christian may need to make sacrifices in other areas of his life to accomplish his military duties.  A Christian should freely, even joyfully, sacrifice to accomplish his sworn duty.  However, he should carefully examine those times when his job demands such sacrifice, and do so with caution.

Many military officers misprioritize their job, placing it above themselves and their families.  Even military Christians sometimes put their job above God; to many non-Christian pilots, being a fighter pilot is their god.  For a Christian, being a fighter pilot must have its proper place—an important aspect of a complete life, but ultimately just a job to accomplish.

The Third Priority–but Still a Priority

Placing the job third in the list of priorities is not meant to imply that a Christian’s job should be considered a nuisance or something to be avoided.  As noted in an earlier post, a Christian’s loyalty, devotion, and work ethic are a direct result–and a direct reflection–of the priority he places on God in his life.  A Christian cannot become a slave to his squadron, but he also cannot marginalize it.  Work is not evil; on the contrary, it is divinely commanded.  New Testament verses repeatedly state that those who do not work should not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10).  Even Paul, whose ministry spread the gospel throughout the world, continued to work as a tentmaker well into his missionary journeys (Acts 18:3, 5; 2 Thessalonians 3:8).  A Christian fighter pilot should work at his job wholeheartedly, as though working for God and not men (Ephesians 6:7).  He should put his best effort into the work he does and demand the highest quality results from himself.  This will ensure that he presents a good image of himself and of the God he speaks so often about.

A Christian also shouldn’t marginalize his job to focus his spiritual efforts somewhere else; the harvest is plentiful in the military community.  A Christian who neglects his job to serve God elsewhere may devalue God to his coworkers.  Ultimately, the importance that a military Christian places on his job needs to be placed in the proper perspective relative to all his priorities, including his family and his God.

Perceptions and Military Values

Somewhere a military science instructor is rolling over in his grave (or, more accurately, falling out of his rolling office chair) because job is the third priority here.  Yes, it is true:  the second Air Force core value is Service before self, and many would consider religious and family priorities to be self-oriented.  Service before self means an officer puts the interests of the nation above his own; that is, an officer doesn’t make decisions that benefit himself but harm the nation or the mission.  In the plainest terms, service before self means officers should not be selfish.  When the needs of military service and the country are greater than the Christian’s own needs, then, yes, he should place service first; this goes back to the caveat that there are times that sacrifices and temporary adjustments must be made in priorities.  However, each person needs to make sure that he is rightly interpreting what the service needs.  Does the military really need him to spend 80 hours at work a week?

Service before self doesn’t mean that an officer continually neglects himself—or his family, or his God—for the service.  A military officer can only deny himself so much before service suffers—service and self are not mutually exclusive.  People accomplish the mission, and if the priority of taking care of “self” (e.g., religious or family priorities) is too low, then the military Christian won’t be in any condition to perform his mission.

Perspective

Indianapolis Colts’ Head Coach Tony Dungy’s book and life continue to be an excellent example of a person in an ‘enviable’ career field who has not let his ‘job’ dictate the meaning in his life.  The 2007 Super Bowl-winning coach said

Football is great…but football is just a game.  It’s not family.  It’s not a way of life.  It doesn’t provide any sort of intrinsic meaning.  It’s just football… Although football has been a part of my life that I’ve really enjoyed, I’ve always viewed it as a means to do something more.  A means to share my faith, to encourage and lift up other people.

Military Christians–particularly those who are or want to be fighter pilots–would do well to learn from Dungy’s life perspective.