Armor of God Part 2
“Stand
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the
breastplate of righteousness” Ephesians 6:14. The second part of the armor is the
Breastplate of righteousness. In a typical armor, the breastplate extends from the
shoulder to the hips. Therefore it protected the vital organs of the body, most
importantly, the heart.
The heart of man
is of the center of life and everlasting life. Medically our heart is vital to the body by
virtue of life-giving blood that flows through our heart. Spiritually, the heart is where salvation
begins. “That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation”. Romans 10:9-10. When Phillip was witnessing
to the man of Ethiopia, he was asked “… here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip
said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. Acts
8:36b-37a.
When we have a
salvation experience God imputes the righteousness of Jesus Christ to us, “Even
as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works”, Romans 4:6. We as Christians need to strive to maintain a
“Pure heart” II Tim. 2:22 and a “true heart”, Heb. 10:22. We have to protect our heart from outside
sources that are trying to find a crack in the armor. If we have been saved we have Jesus and His
righteousness in our heart. Paul is
wanting to make sure we guard our hearts with a breastplate that will remind
ourselves and others who we belong to. When
I was growing up, my brother and I would start playing after church before we
changed clothes. Our mother would have
to remind us that we had our “good clothes on, and don’t mess them up!” We need to remember, as Christians, we’ve got
our “good clothes” on. Paul told us in
Ephesians 4:24-27 that we
should “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. Wherefore putting away
lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of
another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Neither give place to the devil”.
We have a choice
of what we let the world see us wearing. We can choose to dress ourselves to
look like the world, or we can choose to get up every morning and let the world
see our breastplate of righteousness, which is from Christ.
Elder Tim White
Ider, Alabama
Armor Of God Part 2
