Officers and believers

Recently, my family and I attended a police academy graduation ceremony. The audience was filled with proud family members, supportive friends, and colleagues of those graduating. Within an audience of hundreds, there were people talking, children squirming, and babies crying; it was loud and chaotic.

In the middle of the chaos, there was a sudden sound that caused everyone to be silent – a sound that immediately demanded our attention. Everyone turned toward the sound and listened.

It was the graduating recruits marching in formation through the gymnasium halls shouting their cadences. They marched in step with one another, in one accord, and they spoke with one voice.

Their words echoed through the halls: “You don’t want to ever go to war with an officer. Because I love my brother, and we would die for each other.”

There was no question that they were a force to be reckoned with when standing together. They had an “all for one, and one for all” mentality.

Ever since, I have been unable to shake that moment. That kind of unity … that kind of loyalty … that kind of willingness to stand together, even to the point of death is not just powerful; it’s biblical.

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

A high calling

As I continued to think about that moment of solidarity, I started to wonder about the details of an officer’s pledge. What exactly do officers pledge themselves to when it comes to serving?

I researched the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics and found that officers pledge themselves to the following fundamental duties:
• To “serve the community … to safeguard lives and property … to protect the
innocent … the weak … and the peaceful”
• To live above reproach, “keeping their private [lives] unsullied as an example …
being honest in thought and deed”
• To have “courageous calm in the face of danger, scorn, or ridicule”
• To practice self-restraint
• To always uphold “their community and the agency they serve” – above all

As I read through those duties, I realized what a high calling officers have. Then, I recognized how their calling parallels the even higher calling we have as believers.

Officers are called to serve their communities.

Believers are called to serve the Creator.
“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men” (Colossians 3:23).

Officers are called to protect the innocent and stand against evil.

Believers are called to “vindicate the weak and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute; rescue the weak and needy; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3-4).

Officers are called to live lives of integrity —honest in thought and deed.

Believers are not only called to that standard, but to live lives that are completely set apart from the world.
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).

Officers are trained to remain calm in the face of danger, scorn, and ridicule.

Believers are called to stand firm in the face of those same things.
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me” (Matthew 5:11).

Officers are called to discipline themselves.

Believers are called to deny themselves.
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

Officers are committed to each other and to those they serve.

Believers are called to build up the body of Christ and carry one another.
“So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another”
(Romans 12:5).

An unshakable message

And that brings me back to that moment, that cadence, that unified voice: “You don’t want to ever go to war with an officer. Because I love my brother, and we would die for each other.”

That’s exactly how it is supposed to be within the body of Christ.

One voice.
One rhythm.
One mission.

Philippians 1:27 says, “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”

When we do that, the world will not be able to ignore it.

Just like that moment in the gymnasium, everything else will go quiet, and people will stop to take notice – not because of who we are as individuals but because of who we are in Christ. May they see us standing together as one and feel the love of Christ while recognizing that He is within us.