Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Be Strong in the Lord - Part 3 the Body Armor of God's Righteousness


 

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Note; this week we are re-visiting a series of devotions from 2016 entitled FAITHFUL WARRIORS.  It’s not something we do often, but this series bears repeating during times of crisis. 

…and the body armor of God’s righteousness.  Ephesians 6:14b

In His sermon on the Mount of Olives Jesus said we would be blessed; we would be happy to hunger and thirst after righteousness.  He said we should seek the righteousness of the Kingdom of God first, and worry about material things later.[1] 

What is this righteousness we’re supposed to seek?  It’s certainly not self-righteousness; that even sounds bad.

The word “righteous” comes from a basic verb which means to show.  In a religious sense or application it means to stand before God with your heart open and on display.  There is nothing hidden; your heart is on display so God can inspect you. 

Is that a comfortable idea? 

Each of us has at least a few things in our life that, if it were known by our neighbors, friends or family (especially our church family), we would die of shame. 

How do I know that? 

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I do have a human heart.  God knows that the flesh lives inside us all.  And when we stand before Him there is nothing hidden.  At all!

Most of us know this to be true from experience – and the rest of us could guess from sheer human intuition – that it is not a wonderful prospect to stand before a righteous and holy God without some super-asbestos holy shield to protect us from a blast of judgment from the throne. 

The breastplate (or body armor) covers the vitals, the heart.  Having a breastplate of righteousness can only happen when your heart has been cleansed, when you’ve been forgiven of sin and made to stand righteous, openly on show for God. 

David prayed: 

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you….  Psalm 139.23-24a

When it's like that, beloved, Satan’s darts are way out of range. 

A fellow Christian once accused me of being uncaring and cold towards him and his family.  He then widened it to include the whole church (and probably the whole of Western civilization!).  I told him that I believed he was misunderstanding me, but that I would pray for God to help me understand. 

I did go to prayer, and while God affirmed to my heart that I really did care for and love this brother in Christ and his family, there were some other things in that area that needed my attention, like showing that love better.  When I shared this with the brother, I could stand with the breastplate of righteousness.  I had stood honestly before God, and Satan could not use this rift of understanding to break that church apart. 

He tries to do that, you know. 

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, we’re at a time – a particularly difficult time – when the whole church could stand to stand open before you.  We think we have it ‘right’ and most of the time we’ve hardly begun to get it right.  Keep us centered in humility; that will save us from being yanked back to reality when common sense kicks in.

For You Today

Put on God’s body armor, the breastplate of righteousness; have a clean heart before God.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

This devotion originally appeared 1/13/16 as Faithful Warriors - #3. The Body Armor of God's Righteousness

 



[1] Matthew 6:33

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