Ramblings...

¹¹ Put on God’s whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil.

¹² For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.

¹³ Therefore put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place].

¹⁴ Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God,

¹⁵ And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the ^[a]firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness ^[b]produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace.

¹⁶ Lift up over all the [covering] shield of ^[c]saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one].

¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit ^[d]wields, which is the Word of God.

¹⁸ Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose andperseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people).

When reading these verses from Ephesians 6:10-18, I always used to focus on the placement of the armor and try and make sense of that. It didn’t seem all that relevant to me that Truth was round our Waist, or that Righteousness was over our Chest, or that our feet had the Gospel of Peace wrapped around them.

What does that have to do with anything? When will my feet ever need to be peaceful? When will my waist need truth?
For some reason, all this never actually clicked with me. It’s not about the Placement of the armor (or maybe it is and I’m missing something). At least for me, in this season of life it is about the actually Components of the Armor I am wearing.

Here’s a list of what we are told to be covered in:
TRUTH

RIGHTEOUSNESS

GOSPEL OF PEACE

FAITH (ABOVE ALL!)

SALVATION

WORD OF GOD

PRAYER (ALWAYS, IN THE SPIRIT!)

PERSEVERANCE

WATCHFULNESS

SUPPLICATION

What if I stopped focusing on where Im supposed to put these things, and started focusing on WHAT Im meant to be dressed in/focusing on.

Ive decided that I am supposed to pursue these things. Im supposed to live IN them, and be covered by them. Essentially, they are meant to be the components of our lives. That’s great!

And guess what…I think all this is connected to money. One of the things I struggle a lot with when I come home is how quickly my mind slips back into American consumer mode. My vocabulary changes. I stop thinking about certain things and start thinking about what I’ve seen that I can no longer live without. Be it a book, a shirt, a cd, an indestructible water bottle, a bag, a new shampoo. It seriously doesn’t stop! The voice of WANT doesn’t stop unless I become conscious of what I am pursuing.

In one of my post-Target-runs where I felt guilty for buying things I want but don’t need (I have enough shirts as it is),  I came home and told God how sorry I was and I’d never do it again. This is the language Im talking about. It’s a guilt-ridden plea of apology and a half-hearted repentance. Cause the truth is, in that moment, I still liked those shirts I bought more than I like following any conviction I was feeling on my heart to return my “wants” to Target and embrace a new way of life: the way of self-control.

I found myself in 1 Timothy 6:6. It’s a set of verses all about the “love” of money. Oh goodness, I thought! Here’s what I found:

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing (not even those two shirts) into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing (Oh wait, so are you saying I can keep the shirts!? I mean, they are considered clothing…)…

BUT YOU (uh oh, I was hoping he hadn’t noticed ME...), man of God, flee from all this, and pursue

RIGHTEOUSNESS

GODLINESS

FAITH

LOVE

ENDURANCE

GENTLENESS.

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

In all areas of my life, not just in finances and spending and satisfying material wants, we are asked to lay down the desires the world teaches us to have, and to take hold of the eternal life and its enduring values. We are called to take our eyes off of the cravings and lusts of the flesh, and to begin satisfying the spirit. And the spirit is nourished and fed by all these components of the armor or this list of things we are told to pursue.

If I pursue something, I keep my eyes on it and I seek to attain it, even in the face of opposition. Guess what? There will always be opposition.  But I have to set before me these things almost as signs that keep me on the right direction.

I know life doesn’t boil down to 2 shirts from Target that Im a bit indecisive about, but I do think our soul turns toward or away from the light in small degrees. We don’t make sweeping gestures into or out of sin. Even the most dramatic stories of lives that fall apart, or lives that come back together, are not decided in a moment. They are series of moments, days of decisions, all adding up to slowly change our trajectory ever so slightly. But even changing it in tiny degrees results in a dramatically different outcome down the line if we continue following that degree.

My aim in this next season of my life is to check my decisions against these words God has given us to live by. I am challenged to keep living better by the word of God.

“Begin to know Him now, and never finish.” –Oswald Chambers