Bible Bites
On Full Alert
Strolling through a park chatting, with your bursts of laughter echoing through the very tall trees. Carefree. Totally relaxed. Sitting on your favorite chair with your feet up – chilling. It’s more like sprawled out on your chair – totally comfortable. Relaxing in a donut tube, in the toasty warm water, with the gentle currents carrying you along the meandering lazy river. Scenes of physical relaxation and mental ease. But rarely is such imagery used to describe our Christian walk through life. We would like our lives to be much, much easier and far more relaxing. The reality is we are always to be on ‘full alert’.
Being on ‘full alert’ does not mean we should be frantically uptight or darkly paranoid about the dangers of Christian living. In fact, we have all the resources – offensive and defensive we need to walk through this life with confidence. If we live the way the Lord has made it possible for us to live, any and every attack of the enemy can be overcome.
For you are all children of light, children of the day.
We are not of the night or of the darkness.
So then let us not sleep, as others do,
but let us keep awake and be sober…
we belong to the day, let us be sober,
having put on the breastplate of faith and love,
and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
(1Thessalonians 5:5-8)
The breastplate protects your vulnerable heart – where you do your loving and trusting. The helmet protects your vulnerable head – where you do your thinking. Both are critical zones in your body. Both affect your destiny – what you love and what you think.
The faith-love breastplate is critical. Faith is that total trust in God. It is the unwavering confidence in God’s Word. When your faith cracks, and unbelief seeps in, you will sin. You will believe something. If you don’t believe God’s Word, you will believe Satan’s lie and fall prey to his attacks.
As for the love aspect of the breastplate, your deep love for Christ and the things of God will prevent the enemy’s arrows from penetrating and doing their damage. Your robust love for Christ will cause you to bow to Him in submission and obedience – once again protecting you from spiritual assaults.
How is your heart today – fully protected? Or is something eating away at your love for Christ? Is something or someone else stealing your affections?
How’s the helmet – the hope of salvation working? Are you losing sight of the ultimate victory that is yours in Christ Jesus – the ultimate aspect of your great salvation which is eternal? What a protection that is to our minds! What we think and how we think is absolutely critical. What kind of thoughts are swirling around inside your head today? The mind of the believer is under attack.
Get alone with the Lord for a few minutes today and speak to Him about your defenses and protective gear. Talk to Him about your heart and your mind – your affections and your thought-life. The thought in the verse above is that you have put on once-for-all the faith and love breastplate and the hope of salvation helmet – with no thought of ever having them removed or taken off.
For more information on the Christian warfare and the steps required to be safe, read Ephesians 6:14-17. Remember this – you are to always be on full alert.
Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.
Warmly in Christ
Peter Ramsay