Enduring through the struggles of life can reduce our list of true friends. Those true friends are people who remained faithful to us when others ran away when times got tough, even dangerous. In those conflicts, we will discover who it was that had our back and believed the best about us.
As I read through the single-chapter book of Philemon, Paul gave greetings to several people. In his greetings, I came across a name and description of someone I had not previously paid much attention to. It was in verse 2 where Paul mentioned, “our fellow soldier Archippus.”
Paul chose the words “fellow soldier” for a reason. A fellow soldier is defined as someone who is a close and proven associate in the labors and conflicts of the cause of Christ. It is a foxhole kind of relationship where we hunker down with someone while we are under fire.
The only other time the words “fellow soldier” are used in Scripture was again by Paul in his letter to the Philippians where he described a man named Epaphroditus. Both Archippus and Epaphroditus were foxhole brothers with Paul. They had proven themselves faithful in a spiritual battle. They were tested men who would not abandon their post in times of spiritual warfare.
Sometimes that person will be a friend or spouse who over time became our foxhole friends. In certain theaters of spiritual warfare, such people are not seen until the battle intensifies and becomes threatening.
The Lord always has our back in these spiritual battles. Having our back means that He will position people to be with us in the conflict to let us know we are not alone. Those people will become a great encouragement to us when we are under fire and thought were alone in the battle until they appeared and let us know we were never alone.
Garris Elkins
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