My commanding officer

2 Timothy 2:4  "No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs- he wants to please his commanding officer."

Paul is encouraging Timothy as he combats against false teaching in the church at Ephesus.  Paul is warning Timothy about the hardship he will continue to face, the endurance he must have and the faith he must keep.  There was much quarreling in the church over trivial matters that were off-point from the Gospel.  Paul warned Timothy about falling into these traps, and encouraged him to stay focused on the Gospel. 

Paul calls God our "commanding officer", and analogizes our life in Christ to being a good soldier and working to please the One in command.  Every one of us works every day to please our "commanding officer".  The question is- who IS my commanding officer?  We know the answer should be God, and sometime He probably is.  Other times, we allow other things to become our commanding officer- ourselves, our family, our bosses, money, sex, social status, and the list could go on. 

The ultimate goal is to make God our sole and permanent commanding officer.  But maybe an intermediate step is to recognize those times when something else has taken His place.  Ask God's forgiveness and ask Him to help you restore His rightful position.