Ephesians 6:13-17
13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
When you get up in the morning and are getting dressed, picking out your clothes for the day, what is the criteria you are using to make the decision about what you will wear? Maybe it’s something along these lines:
What is the weather going to be like?
Is this business casual or formal business attire?
Is this a fund-raising event or a casual get together?
Am I meeting someone new or am I amongst friends?
How am I physically feeling today?
Am I dressing to impress?
Paul, in Ephesians, talks about giving thought to how we will dress for the day, as it relates to preparing our minds and hearts on that same day. Yet his choices are not based on fashion, but rather on security. He is suggesting we put on clothing for protection. You would not dress in your bathing suit to go out in below zero temperatures. You would wear protective clothing to fend off the cold. This would be a conscious decision on your part. Paul is telling us that every day, there is a battle going on of spiritual dimensions. Yet we choose to leave the house without dressing for battle. What would you call the person who ignores severe storm warnings? Foolish?
To ignore Paul’s warning would also be considered foolish. We act surprised when we go about our day and feel battle fatigue from the temptations and negative conditions of the world, we live in. We leave ourselves vulnerable to the evil elements of the world when we leave our suit of armor in the closet back home. At times, we might be in a rush and only grab partial items of the suit of armor. Oh, we have the helmet of salvation but forget the belt of truth. Paul makes it clear we need the whole armor of God.
Knowing that the enemy will look for signs of weaknesses, Paul wants us to be fully prepared for battle with the mindset of victory.
As you reach for each piece of armor, you begin to notice your confidence level increases as well. Each piece reminds you of the power that is given us through Christ. Once fully dressed, we then grab our shield and sword and walk boldly into our day.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6
4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
At the end of the day, the fruits of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control will be our reward. Before you leave your house today, stand in front of the mirror one more time to see if you are missing anything?
Just a Thought…
