Ephesians, Day 7 | Ephesians 6:10 – 24
A few weeks ago, we had a decent snowstorm, somewhere between 8 and 10 inches of snow accompanied by a few days of freezing temperatures. My children, of course, were beyond excited to play in the snow. Not wanting to cut short their fun, I began assembling my gear, preparing to spend hours in the cold. I started with an insulated shirt, then added a pair of Carhartt-esque overalls that were hand-me-downs from my father, and that are older than I am (They are ugly, but they keep me warm). I then put on my extra pair of socks and my waterproof boots. Then, I added my insulated jacket, and hat and gloves. I looked like a mismatched woodsman from an arctic climate but I was ready — I was not going to take the cold lightly! After only a few minutes outside, I realized a flaw in my preparation. I thought I had put on everything I needed for success in the snow, but there was a flaw in my gear. My gloves were made for driving, not snow. Within minutes, they were wet and cold and pretty much useless. I had overlooked one piece of preparation, and that oversight made it more difficult to succeed in my goal of staying outside ’til my children were ready to come in.
Our verses for today come from Ephesians 6:10 – 24. It’s the passage that speaks about the armor of God. I encourage you to read the entire passage. However, in this devotional, I’m only going to focus on one phrase from Ephesians 6:11: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
“Put on the whole armor…” In my silly example, you saw what happened when one piece of equipment didn’t perform as expected. It created a weakness in my defense against the cold. I was vulnerable, even though everything else was operating as expected, and that one piece of clothing could have derailed the entire operation. Paul tells us to put on the “whole armor of God,” then lists the entire suit of armor. Paul is telling us that each part is vitally important in our battle against the spiritual forces of evil. We dare not neglect a piece of the armor or our defenses will be weakened. Each piece of the armor is important. If we ignore or take one piece lightly, we will be vulnerable to the attack from the forces of evil.
“Of God” I don’t have snow gloves; I have gloves that aren’t made for getting wet. I put on what I had; however, what I had wasn’t good enough in the defense against the cold. The armor we are to put on in our defense against the spiritual forces of evil is to be “of God,” not of ourselves. The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible comments on the phrase “of God” to mean furnished by God, not our own, because what is furnished by ourselves will not stand up in the battle.1 The armor of God is only beneficial in our defense because it is “of God.” Take God out of the equation and it’s useless.
We can have the best intentions and plans to seek after God. However, if we do not properly prepare, then our intentions will be derailed and we will fall short of our goal. I encourage you to read the rest of Ephesians 6 and take an inventory of your armor against the forces of evil, and whose power are you leaning on in those defenses.
Adam Deering
- Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 357). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.