When I worked for three summer seasons in the garden
department at The Home Depot in Oklahoma, I went through a lot of hats as the
hot sun back there simply faded out any dark color schemes within no time at
all! I finally got smart and bought a
white THD hat that lasted through the last summer and in fact, I still have it
today (although it’s pretty frayed)! Wearing a hat outside has now become a part
of my regular apparel. I even placed two
hooks behind our front door on which I hang a couple of hats for my wife and I
that we can easily retrieve before we go out the door.
Ephesians 6:17 tells us to “take the helmet of salvation…” (KJV) as an intricate part of the
armor of God that we should be wearing in our daily lives. The helmet is designed to protect our heads
which, let’s face it, is one of the most vital parts of our bodies! We could do little without a head. It is the seat of our intellect and directs
all of our activities.
The Apostle Paul calls salvation our helmet. He bluntly infers that “the hope of continual safety and protection, based on the promises of
God, to which the upright follower of Christ feels he has a divine right,
protects the understanding from being darkened, and the judgment from being
confused by the temptations of Satan, or subtle arguments of the sophistical
ungodly.” (Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible)
The helmet of salvation reminds me of the helmet that the
comic book/movie character Ironman wears.
Once he dons the device and hooks it into the rest of his armor, he has
a heads up display that puts him in contact with a seemingly unending array of
weapons and sophisticated equipment that is solely designed to give him the
advantage over any foe!
Now that’s the kind of hat I want to put on when I walk out
the front door! What I discovered this
morning though, kind of goes against what I have been taught in the past. I can remember hearing various Bible teachers
over the years talking about the armor of God and encouraging us to “put it on” every day. But as I looked into the original origins of
the Greek word most English versions translate as “put on” I learned that the saying is actually more akin to “sinking into a garment!” (Strong’s and
Thayer’s)
The Apostle is instructing us to become one with God’s
armor! It’s not a rote “dressing” that we do each day, but a
continual, lifelong process of maturation and growth in the intimate knowledge
and actualization of His Word! So God’s
Word and His ways become a vital part of who we are! This reminds me of the new jogging jacket I
bought my wife for her birthday a couple of weeks ago. It is made of material that is 88% Polyester
and 12% Spandex which means it stretches to conform to the shape of the one
wearing it. Since I need to help my
wife, the stretching capabilities of it make it easy to put on her! I no longer have to stretch my wife’s arm’s
but only the jacket! Once on, it fits
her like a glove, is very comfortable, and lightweight but yet keeps her warm
enough when the coastal breezes blow during our daily walks.
That’s how the helmet of salvation should be to us. It should fit us like a glove and be
comfortable enough to us, that we naturally begin to walk and talk as God
does! To the point that we automatically
access and use all the spiritual weapons and sophisticated equipment of the
heavenly kingdom. Hummm… like Ironman wearing a Polyester and Spandex helmet that
stretches and moves like it’s a part of him.
Kind of a weird picture… but I guess it works!
When you become one with God’s armor, you are protected
because you are thinking and acting like Him… and the enemy’s attacks are
quickly repulsed! That’s the way I
desire to live, and I would imagine the same could be said about you! Have a great day. Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking
yourself… “What am I expecting today?”
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