Get A Helmet


 
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17

Years ago when my children were at the age where everything is unfair, they would complain to me ad nauseam about any and every issue. I found one answer I repeated over and over. “Life’s tough. Get a helmet.”
I was reminded of that recently when I began to feel as if one by one, unpleasant things were falling on my head. For years I’d lived with the ever present sense of a shoe about to drop, as they say but for awhile my life seemed somewhat emancipated from free flying shoes. Recently it seems that footwear is once again dangling precipitously over my head. I laughed as I thought about my own words to my children, “Life’s tough, get a helmet.”

Thinking about my total lack of control over said footwear I thought, “Hm, maybe I ought to get a helmet.” God in his amazing graciousness reminded me, ever so gently, that I have one. It is the helmet of salvation and it is one piece of an outfit designed to keep me safe, the armor of God. (Ephesians 5:10-18)
The helmet of salvation will see me through to heaven. It will not prevent shoes and/or boots from dropping unannounced on my head. It will protect my head as well as the rest of me. 

Life is tough, or at least it can be at times.  People we love and trust betray us. Jobs end, bad medical reports are given and things change, often not in positive ways. Without the loving protection of the armor of God any and all of those things could knock us over. With the armor they can sway us a bit but they cannot defeat us.
 Isaiah 54:17 says that no weapon formed against us will prosper.  If the adversary isn’t prospering does it follow that we are? It may not appear so in the moment. The prosperity from adversity may come here or it may be waiting at home. Either way, we, who believe in Jesus, will be safe. We are saved by his blood and nothing can take that away.

Shoes will most likely continue to drop on my head as I walk through this life. Some are light, bedroom slipperish and some are heavy work boots. It doesn’t matter. I have a helmet. That helmet may be full of dings and scratches when I get home but my head will be intact.
Life is tough, get a helmet. Get the helmet of salvation. It’s free, brought to you by the grace of God in the form of Jesus Christ and nothing formed against it can do any real damage.

 

 

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