Skip to main content

Faith

             In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  (Ephesians 6:16)

The belt, the breastplate, and the boots are all pieces of armor that need only be put on. After that, they’re there, doing their job. How’s that for using homophones? You might say that they’re passive armor. Granted, you have to turn your body toward your enemy for your breastplate to be useful, but with the shield, you can protect your front, your side, your back, or the top of your head if you build the skill and strength to do so. If you let down your guard, your breastplate may still protect you, but chances are that your shield won’t. For your shield to protect you, you must turn it toward your enemy even if your body is facing a different way. It is dynamic.

As I read this verse this morning, I noticed that the use of the shield of faith is to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. If a flaming arrow is extinguished, it’s still an arrow. And because a shield is a shield, the arrow isn’t likely to pierce it and kill you, but it will still hit. Faith doesn’t mean you’ll never be hurt, but it does mean that the kind of wound is restricted and the depth of the injury generally less. The point of the text seems to be that shields of faith protect us from a specific sort of harm.

The story gets a little more complex because it doesn’t say that the shield extinguishes the fiery arrows. It says that with the shield, we can extinguish the fiery arrows. That takes us back to having to use our faith. If someone were going to strengthen your faith, and, therefore your ability to extinguish the fiery arrows you face in life, what might they do? Several possibilities come to mind: singing worship/praise songs, praying with and for you, and telling you stories. Could that be an example of faith coming by hearing? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more