For the vikings death in battle was as good as it got. It was how you entered into Valhalla and got your eternal reward. So fighting for, well, anything worth fighting for, was what they lived for.
Many people think that Christianity is the “sheep’s” religion. There are memes about being a “wolf of Odin” rather than a “lamb of God.” This is really ludicrous though because not only was Odin disliked and mistrusted as a god by the Northmen the idea that Christianity is a “weak” religion is an outright lie. In fact the Vikings themselves often became Christian when they experienced – or heard stories of – Christians who were willing to die glorious deaths for their Lord.
But that’s not really the point of my post here. Whether you’re Christian or pagan or “non-declared” I want to ask the question, “What are you fighting for?” Because we are all fighting every day and, believe it or not, we are all going to die in battle. It may not be by a sword, axe, gun, or other physical weapon but those things are not the “real” things anyway.
I believe the Christian Bible puts it best when it says,
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
This is at the crux of why I’m doing what I’m doing with my smartphone and social media and life choices in general. It’s because I am aware that I am in a daily battle. A battle for my mind, heart, passions, emotions, time and energy. I am in a battle for my wife, children, work, community, country and self. I am in a battle that is important enough to die for. To die, as the Bible calls us to do, daily. There is so much to fight for. But “the enemy” is cunning and wise and will do all he can to lull us into a sense of peace and slumber that ends in death – and a dishonorable, worthless death at that.
So… what are you fighting for? Or maybe I should ask, “Are you fighting?”