A Soldier with No Armor

-
Sometimes I think I am just rather dense--it takes a while for the known to penetrate my heart through the work of the Spirit. How many times have you read (like I have) Ephesians 6:10-17? 

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against [a]flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (NASB)
 Yet how often has it failed to pierce my soul that I have all this available to me yet fail to wear it faithfully into the daily battle that is my life? I Thessalonians 5:8 also speaks to this. Paul exhorts them that "since  we are of the day" (i.e. believers in Christ and not of the world, thus in darkness), we should not only be alert, but also "put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation." Paul's tense takes it even farther than just putting it on; he adds having before the phrase, reminding us the armor is already ours at salvation--reminding us that we should never take it off.

 How many soldiers at war sleep in all or parts of their armor if there is even a remote possibility of danger? How many would willingly walk into battle without being fully armored? It makes no sense at all to not wear the protection we've been given. So why am I so slow to realize that the armor God provides us for the battle that is this life is really vital? I really wish I could answer that question--then I wouldn't be so slow! However, I am grateful God is patient with me, and that He provides what I need daily.

 For King and Country has a song called "Fix My Eyes" that speaks to this in part. The second verse says, "It takes a soldier who knows his orders to walk the walk I'm supposed to walk." The battle is real, and I am a soldier in training. The walk is hard--I need His armor to survive the battle.

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. If you have concerns or questions, I will do my best to answer them privately. I will publish comments at my discretion publicly if they glorify God.

Popular posts from this blog

An Uncertain Affinity (2 Cor. 4:7-11; Gen. 3:16)

-
Image
Today in my devotion time, I came across a word that led me to another word. Can I say that this is my usual, lifelong problem in reading dictionary entries . . . I have a hard time stopping.  It’s a real problem. ☺ The word connected to the word I was looking up about the tabernacle was skeuos . In the Greek, this word carries the meaning “of uncertain affinity; a vessel, implement, equipment or apparatus (literal or figurative [specifically a wife as contributing to the usefulness of the husband]):--goods, sail, stuff, vessel.” I got caught immediately in the first part: “uncertain affinity.”  Uncertain means “not able to be relied on; not known or definite.” Affinity means “a spontaneous or natural liking or sympathy for someone or something.” Putting these two words together is something of an oxymoron, which in the Greek literally means “pointedly foolish” because of its seeming contradiction. How in the world can you have an affinity for something you don’t know? How...
Read more

Letting Go Is Hard (Hebrews 12:1-2)

-
I sit among boxes piling a bit higher each day as I pack my life up once again. I say again, but in the grander scheme of things I haven’t moved that often in my 33 years of married life, and since the kids were born, I have only moved three times until now. We will be renting for a while until we can find a place to land, so I am purging things much more robustly than I have ever done with any other move. Sorting through 33 years (plus some things I had before marrying) has been utterly distracting, difficult to accomplish, and slow to finish. Homes need things, and things need a home, but I am finding I have held on to far too much over the years. Letting go is hard. Stuff.  Too much stuff. Merriam-Webster defines stuff as “materials, supplies, or equipment used in various activities: such as personal property.” By this definition, we own what we need to DO something. I have done much the last five years while I have not been in the classroom daily. Pottery was the first thing ...
Read more

Under Construction (All of the Bible . . .)

-
Do you remember the logic  🧩 (or riddles or analogies or challenges—not sure what to call the kind of word puzzle I mean) of childhood past where one was required to look at a grouping of words and figure out based on their arrangement what they meant together? Something like this one below: CONSTRUCTION soul The correct way to solve it would be soul under construction . If you notice, construction is weighty, and the soul is small under the burden of change. Maybe it has seemed quiet to you lately from this quarter. It is true that I have not written in a while, but it has not been because my soul has been absent of either noise or the quiet contemplation of time spent in the Word. I have been wrestling with myself, not with New Year's resolutions but with what I know about God, with the disconnect I sometimes feel between living out truth versus what my flesh wants in all its ugliness. There is the other side of wrestling, however, when it goes on too long without acti...
Read more