I was listening to a podcast recently as the guys were talking about ‘live ammo’ as a way of describing the reality of the life we live. This isn’t a dress rehearsal in which we get to use blanks and simulate each days situations. We are using live ammo and the shots are real, the hits are real too!
In the bible, we read this from the book of James Chapter 3:3-8
‘Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also, the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.
See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.’
Live ammo. Every day we speak live ammo, our words are like 5.56mm rounds, 7.62mm armour piecing or even the .50Cal! It is so easy to fire off a few shots, at our kids, families, that bloke in the Audi who is sitting on your bumper and as he goes by you send a sniper round through his window hoping to hit his heart.
We can also turn this live ammo on ourselves too! Self-speak can be so destructive, ‘you have always been a failure, you will never amount to anything, you are an idiot and always will be!’
Social media is a fertile ground too for live ammo – the virtual reality kind! We can jump into YouTube or Facebook and fire a full magazine of live ammo into the lives of other people. We might think it hits no one and does any damage, after all ‘it’s just having a vent’ right?
Nah, it will find a target and land with massive force and damage.
So, what do we do? Well I asked Google what to do with live ammo and how do I dispose of it. Basically, Google told me to take it to a higher power and I liked that.
Go to the police and hand it in and they can dispose of it safely without anyone, (including you) getting hurt!
We take our problems with live ammo to a higher power to get it sorted. I like that.
This battle to control our tongues, our words and the force they can carry over others and ourselves is a battle we need God in. He is the higher power, call on him, in the heat of the moment when the ammo is loaded surrender it, yield it to the holy spirit. This could be an hourly, daily and weekly thing at the start, but I do think that over time we will regularly surrender the live ammo in our lives.
Just a thought
Editors note
Whilst in the Royal Navy, every time we came back from a live firing or had had a loaded magazine / weapon in our possession we had to make a declaration and subsequently sign to say …
I have no live rounds or empty shell cases in my possession Sir
Obviously we faced serious charges if subsequently we were caught with any ammo.
Could be a good thought to start the day with …
Image Credit: Matthew Brodeur
