Ephesians 6:11 – Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. (NLT)

At every game, he armoured up.

Our youngest grandson loves T-ball, and once things in our life changed so that my wife and I had a little more free time in the evening, we made plans to attend his final few games. We had seen pictures of him, but nothing suffices for seeing the real thing in person.

We pulled into the parking lot and waited for our son and his family to arrive. When they arrived, our son opened the door to let our grandson out. Sure enough, our grandson looked just as the pictures had portrayed: white pants, blue team shirt, cleats, and backpack with all his accessories.

But we didn't get to see all his armour until his time came to bat. He marched to the plate in full array. Added to what we'd already viewed were batting gloves and a batting helmet. The gloves would help him grip the bat, and the helmet would keep the ball from hitting his head. These he donned until he reached home plate.

When his team played defense, his armour changed a bit. The batting gloves came off and so did the helmet. In their place, he put on a fielding glove.

Although a pretty good ball player, our grandson tends to lose focus. One time, this cost him. As he played in the dirt, not paying attention to the batter, the hitter slammed a ground ball our grandson's way. Our grandson happened to look up just in time to see the ball, but not in time to keep it from slamming into his eye. He whimpered a little but shook it off and went back to playing. After the game, he proudly showed us his shiner.

Paul knew a little about armouring up, too. A belt of truth, a helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, a shield of faith, a breastplate of righteousness, and feet shod with the gospel of peace: not anything that would help in a ball game, but pieces that a Roman soldier would have been familiar with — and pieces that a believer needs to put on each day as well.

Leaving off any piece of our armour leaves us open to attacks from our spiritual enemy, just as not having his helmet on during the defensive part of the game left my grandson vulnerable. Although God gives us the armour, we must suit up … daily.

God promises not to let any temptation overtake us that we can't overcome with His help, but His help comes when we armour up. Sin has many manifestations and will sneak up on us if we're not careful. Staying armoured up keeps us safe. When we protect ourselves, we also protect others, since almost every sin that we commit has a domino effect to some degree.

Don't forget to armour up every day. You'll be glad you did.

Prayer: Father, give us the courage to armour up with Your spiritual armour. Amen.

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Martin Wiles <mandmwiles@gmail.com>
Greenwood, South Carolina, USA
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