When a relentless pursuit of the truth becomes lived out as our routine, there results a righteousness to guard our hearts.  If truth secures and preserves our inner core as a belt, righteousness protects our hearts as a breastplate.  At that point, the torso of the armor of God is complete.

When a police officer wears a bulletproof vest or an umpire wears a chest guard, the purpose is to protect the soft tissues and vital organs from projectiles.  When the Christian dons the breastplate of righteousness, no matter what comes to attack our decisive will or our heart for God, the force of the attack will be absorbed and injury will be minimized.

How do we put on a breastplate of righteousness?

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord.

We gain it every time we recognize God’s truth, embrace it, and apply it.  Living a life of righteousness isn’t easy in our culture, but it’s a necessary part of the protective gear for every Christian who stands his ground.

One doesn’t need to hang around me very long before one realizes how important the truth is to me. 

Stop and think about it: if you don’t have the truth, what do you really have?

(Think about that for a second.  I’ll wait while you put names to what you have if you don’t have the truth.)

So the next time someone in Washington, DC; or Springfield or Chicago, Illinois;  or some other entity tries to obfuscate the truth and give you something else in its place, ask yourself what you’re really getting.  Someone has the truth.  Someone knows the truth.  It takes someone to speak the truth and it takes someone to hide the truth.

But make no mistake: the truth always comes out!

Romans 2:6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger

Do you see?  Those who uphold the truth will be honored.  Those who revere it will be rewarded.  Those who rejected it will be held accountable.  Those who hid it will be disclosed and put to shame.  Those who clung to it will be comforted and emerge victorious.  Those who cast it aside will be cast aside themselves.

John 8: 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Perhaps it is for this reason—the vast importance of the truth—that it is the first of the weapons listed for the Christian to use in standing his ground against an invisible and evil enemy. 

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  (Ephesians 6:12-13)

Standing your ground includes mental, physical, and strategic self-preparedness for battle.  I was thinking about how it’s easier to prepare for an enemy you can see than for an invisible enemy.  Interestingly, when the enemy is invisible it is more necessary to stand our ground.  Firing randomly, shooting from the hip out of panic or fear is unlikely to help us to see the battle in the heavenly realms.

Do you remember the famous order “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes”?  It is often attributed to the battle of Bunker Hill although it was apparently a somewhat common order in the 1700s to keep the combatants from wasting their limited ammunition by panicked shooting before it might accomplish any possible pushing back the enemy.

When we cannot see our enemy, all firing on our part is shooting in the dark.  So what does God tell us to do?  Put on the full armor of God, prepare, do what we can, and then stand.  It is good advice for us, especially since the spiritual battle is His to fight.

My son and I were discussing Memorial Day and how to many people, this day of remembrance of soldiers who died has become a Veterans Day-The Summer Edition.  I wondered if it’s because Americans do not like to ponder death as much as they worship youth.  Or we considered, is it that in a narcissistic culture in which it’s “All About Me,” many of us no longer have a connection with someone who died in a war?  The WWI and WWII generations are aging out of predominance.   Is it that wars are waged differently now–since the Vietnam War–and while there are still those who have tragically lost their lives, far more common are the wounded warriors who come home from today’s wars maimed and bearing emotional, psychological, and physical wounds?

Most earthly wars cannot reasonably be described as holy wars or ones with a clear religious motivation as the sole declaration of purpose.  Yes, religion plays a part on an individual and personal level for Americans, but it’s generally politics and not a holy war for American culture.

The true holy war is never one we see in a physical sense. 

The spiritual battle is fought against an invisible enemy and our weapons of war aren’t what the world uses in battle.

In Ephesians 6:12, Paul reminds us, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  The he tells us about the weapons of the spiritual battle.  Over the next few days we will explore how the spiritual battle is waged and how the holiness of the holy war is preserved by standing firm in the face of evil.

Remembering is a good thing to do–particularly on days like Memorial Day.   It’s not just the beginning of summer and picnics, watermelon and barbecues.  Memorial Day is rooted in something far more profound!  Today is a day to remember those who served their brethren, laying down their lives so that we could live as free people.

John 15:13 reads, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”  It was modeled by Christ and many of our soldiers have died on the battlefield following their Lord’s model of sacrifice, deeming true freedom important enough to demand the highest cost imaginable: that of a human life.

Let’s face it, freedom is resented by many in the world today because freedom is something given by the God of both Christians and Jews.  God loves freedom, but evil relishes tyranny and nibbles away at freedom wherever it can: at home, abroad, in our courts, in our schools, in our churches, in our government, and on the battlefield.  We must stand firm on the moral issue of freedom.  We stand firm in the war being waged in the spiritual realms, a war whose scope is far beyond what we see reflected on the battlefields of earth.

In the spiritual realm, evil whispers that sacrifice isn’t worth it, freedom isn’t important, liberty is overrated, and serving others is a thankless endeavor.  But God’s servants stand firm in the knowledge that Jesus died to give us freedom from sin’s punishment and therefore it’s worth protecting.  Liberty is the only antidote to bondage.  Serving others is godliness in action.

In Galatians 5:13, the Bible says, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

Thank God today for those who died so that you could know the fullness of godly freedom and learn from their example to serve others in love.

I have been thinking lately about the power of words.  They are powerful to remind, to instruct, to encourage, to correct, and to comfort.  At times when we experience doubt, we can meditate on the words of Scripture and find His comfort to us.  This comfort is most needed when we are facing affliction of body, mind, and soul.  The spiritual balm of His words to us has great healing power.

This Precious Day contains 24 hours to be a blessing, to live a life well-lived, and to make the most of every moment.  I recently had cause to think on the brevity of life and how easily 24 hours can be squandered on poor uses of time.  Then I considered that these are 24 hours I will never get back.  I will never have a Groundhog Day movie plot for my life in which I can live the same day over and over, hoping to finally learn how to use time wisely.  Today I resolve to bring glory to God by how I spend This Precious Day.  How about you?

It’s hard to believe that the Lord will be our light some day and this will endure for all eternity. 

Yet, this is what the Bible tells us.

I guess it makes sense since He put the great lights in the sky at the beginning of time.  What difference should it make to us today to know that He is the Light of the World and will be our only light some day?

There’s a song sung by James Taylor called Handyman with lyrics that read:

Hey girls, gather round

Listen to what I’m putting down

Hey baby, I’m your handy man

I’m not the kind to use a pencil or rule

I’m handy with love and I’m no fool

I fix broken hearts, I know that I truly can

If your broken heart should need repair

Then I’m the man to see

I whisper sweet things, you tell all your friends

They’ll come runnin’ to me

Here is the main thing that I want to say

I’m busy twenty-four hours a day

I fix broken hearts, I know that I truly can

God doesn’t just fix broken hearts by whispering sweet things.  He heals broken hearts by binding up the wounds.  Broken hearts abound these days.  Isn’t it reassuring to know that our LORD is the Healer of  hearts such as these?  Jesus is better than a handyman.