Ephesians 6:17a
And take the helmet of salvation,
And take the helmet of salvation,
Visit a construction site, and you will find workers wearing hardhats. Many states have rules for ATV and motorcycle riders, requiring helmets to be worn during operation. When your child goes out to ride his or her bike around your neighborhood, a bike helmet is a necessary accessory, be it stylish or not. Football players and baseball batters also don the headgear for their respective sports.
The reason for all of this is common sense: even a small injury to the head can cause massive injury, or even death. Combat soldiers know that helmets are necessary, especially in the kinds of wars we see being fought today with snipers, IEDs, and the like.
The head is unique. It houses four of the five senses, it is home to the brain (which, of course, governs every other part of the body), it is how we are recognized. If you bump your arm or leg, you might get a bruise, or possibly break a bone, but if you bump your head in the right place, you could lose consciousness or even lose your life. Therefore, the head requires special attention when it comes to protection.
Like it or not, we are in this world (for better or worse), but Scripture tells us that we are not to be of the world. This is difficult, given the fact that our minds are such a vital part of our existence. Not only do physical things affect our mind, but spiritual things also affect it; the mind is stimulated by emotions, by internal and external attacks. Some things we can guard against, but other things are a bit more difficult. We wear a helmet to protect ourselves from external, physical forces. Therefore, it stands to reason that we need similar protection from those things we cannot necessarily see with our eyes.
We are to take the helmet of salvation to guard our minds, and thus our lives, from the inevitable spiritual, physical and emotional attacks of our enemy Satan. Using Strong’s Greek Dictionary, you will find that the word helmet comes from the Greek (transliterated) word “perikephalaia,” which means “an encirclement of the head.” This gives us the picture of a helmet which completely surrounds the entire head, providing as much protection as possible. This kind of helmet would have holes or slits for the eyes and mouth, but everything other vulnerable area protected.
This is the kind of spiritual helmet we need, because an attack might come from any direction and take any form. Never knowing when, where or how the blow will fall, we need protection. Again, this protection is for our mind, which is vulnerable to our general health, as well as situations and other people. Whoever said, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me,” obviously had no enemies or friends or anyone who ever said anything against him. Words can enter our minds and rob us of our security and peace. When this happens, we stand in the danger of spiritual defeat. Animosity, doubt, fear, and a host of other feelings can take over; we need protection for our mind.
That helmet derives its protective nature from salvation. Again referring to Strong’s, we find the word “sōtērion,” or “defender.” The salvation provided by Jesus Christ is a strong defender against those fiery spiritual darts which fly our way. But that salvation can also be a strong defender for our mind.
Over the years many people have been deeply hurt by close friends, by Christian brothers or sisters. They say no one can hurt you worse than a friend, and when this happens to us, we find it difficult to function. Our relationships suffer, thoughts and feelings that we could never conceive of harboring seem to consume us. We find it hard to focus on anything else but these feelings of pain, of anger, of revenge. Whether we want to admit it or not, these feelings begin to shove God out of our mind, and His voice becomes harder and harder to hear.
At this point, our peace, our joy, and our spiritual growth, effectively cease. We cannot split ourselves, serving two masters. Anger and peace cannot coexist. Isolation and fellowship, discouragement and joy, defeat and victory cannot coexist. One will always defeat the other. Now, you can see why Satan tries so hard to hit our mind; when these things negatively affect our minds, our spirit suffers. If our spirit is incapacitated, we are no longer a threat to him.
We never know what each day will bring, who it is who will say or do something to us to hurt us, what circumstances will transpire to derail our plans. But when these things do come, it is vitally important that we take the time to meditate on the salvation of the Lord. Can God do anything? Is there even one thing too hard for the Lord? If we believe that with Jesus, nothing is impossible, then we must rely on His power and grace to help us overcome all those things which threaten us.
All of us, pastor and parishioner alike, face attacks on the mind. Unfortunately, these attacks don’t stay there. Their effects penetrate every fiber of our being, and are highly efficient in weakening or even destroying us. Yet, we have something to protect us, if we will use it. Our job is to pray daily that the Lord would protect our mind from these attacks, no matter when, where or how they fall. By doing this, we help ensure our continued effectiveness for the Lord and our own spiritual growth.
NEXT TIME: Ephesians 6:17b
© 2006, Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press. All rights reserved. All material printed on this site is protected by the copyright law of the United States. It may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press, obtainable by writing to soulscape@alltel.net. Altering or removing any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content is not permitted. Any and all portions of material copied from the Soulscape Blog must be properly attributed to Chris Keeton and Soulscape, and cited with original blog web address.
The reason for all of this is common sense: even a small injury to the head can cause massive injury, or even death. Combat soldiers know that helmets are necessary, especially in the kinds of wars we see being fought today with snipers, IEDs, and the like.
The head is unique. It houses four of the five senses, it is home to the brain (which, of course, governs every other part of the body), it is how we are recognized. If you bump your arm or leg, you might get a bruise, or possibly break a bone, but if you bump your head in the right place, you could lose consciousness or even lose your life. Therefore, the head requires special attention when it comes to protection.
Like it or not, we are in this world (for better or worse), but Scripture tells us that we are not to be of the world. This is difficult, given the fact that our minds are such a vital part of our existence. Not only do physical things affect our mind, but spiritual things also affect it; the mind is stimulated by emotions, by internal and external attacks. Some things we can guard against, but other things are a bit more difficult. We wear a helmet to protect ourselves from external, physical forces. Therefore, it stands to reason that we need similar protection from those things we cannot necessarily see with our eyes.
We are to take the helmet of salvation to guard our minds, and thus our lives, from the inevitable spiritual, physical and emotional attacks of our enemy Satan. Using Strong’s Greek Dictionary, you will find that the word helmet comes from the Greek (transliterated) word “perikephalaia,” which means “an encirclement of the head.” This gives us the picture of a helmet which completely surrounds the entire head, providing as much protection as possible. This kind of helmet would have holes or slits for the eyes and mouth, but everything other vulnerable area protected.
This is the kind of spiritual helmet we need, because an attack might come from any direction and take any form. Never knowing when, where or how the blow will fall, we need protection. Again, this protection is for our mind, which is vulnerable to our general health, as well as situations and other people. Whoever said, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me,” obviously had no enemies or friends or anyone who ever said anything against him. Words can enter our minds and rob us of our security and peace. When this happens, we stand in the danger of spiritual defeat. Animosity, doubt, fear, and a host of other feelings can take over; we need protection for our mind.
That helmet derives its protective nature from salvation. Again referring to Strong’s, we find the word “sōtērion,” or “defender.” The salvation provided by Jesus Christ is a strong defender against those fiery spiritual darts which fly our way. But that salvation can also be a strong defender for our mind.
Over the years many people have been deeply hurt by close friends, by Christian brothers or sisters. They say no one can hurt you worse than a friend, and when this happens to us, we find it difficult to function. Our relationships suffer, thoughts and feelings that we could never conceive of harboring seem to consume us. We find it hard to focus on anything else but these feelings of pain, of anger, of revenge. Whether we want to admit it or not, these feelings begin to shove God out of our mind, and His voice becomes harder and harder to hear.
At this point, our peace, our joy, and our spiritual growth, effectively cease. We cannot split ourselves, serving two masters. Anger and peace cannot coexist. Isolation and fellowship, discouragement and joy, defeat and victory cannot coexist. One will always defeat the other. Now, you can see why Satan tries so hard to hit our mind; when these things negatively affect our minds, our spirit suffers. If our spirit is incapacitated, we are no longer a threat to him.
We never know what each day will bring, who it is who will say or do something to us to hurt us, what circumstances will transpire to derail our plans. But when these things do come, it is vitally important that we take the time to meditate on the salvation of the Lord. Can God do anything? Is there even one thing too hard for the Lord? If we believe that with Jesus, nothing is impossible, then we must rely on His power and grace to help us overcome all those things which threaten us.
All of us, pastor and parishioner alike, face attacks on the mind. Unfortunately, these attacks don’t stay there. Their effects penetrate every fiber of our being, and are highly efficient in weakening or even destroying us. Yet, we have something to protect us, if we will use it. Our job is to pray daily that the Lord would protect our mind from these attacks, no matter when, where or how they fall. By doing this, we help ensure our continued effectiveness for the Lord and our own spiritual growth.
NEXT TIME: Ephesians 6:17b
© 2006, Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press. All rights reserved. All material printed on this site is protected by the copyright law of the United States. It may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Chris Keeton and Soulscape Press, obtainable by writing to soulscape@alltel.net. Altering or removing any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content is not permitted. Any and all portions of material copied from the Soulscape Blog must be properly attributed to Chris Keeton and Soulscape, and cited with original blog web address.
No comments:
Post a Comment