"Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand..." Eph. 6:11a (NIV)
Today, as I was preparing to go for a walk, I found a large box on the front step. With great excitement my father said, "It must be Katie's armor!" You probably are wondering, at this moment, why I would need armor. "It's got to be from bikerbandit.com" he continued. With great enthusiasm I carried the parcel to the table and cut through the tape. There it was. A magnificent piece of women's dirt biker gear. A grey mass of plastic and material shaped for a woman's body. A breast plate of great durability. It was a chest protector made specially for a woman with boobs. Yes, boobs. I have them, and they need to be protected whilst I maneuver my Honda XR200 through the woods of St. Croix or Nemadji or where ever else we go.
Also today, I continued my weekly Bible study with a few of my friends. (This is where the Bible part comes in.) We read Ephesians 6:10-20. As Victoria read the passage aloud to our small group I thought of the correlation of my dirt bike gear to the armor described in this passage... [Here is the passage below if you're interested]
Ephesians 6:10-20 (New International Version)
The Armor of God 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For 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.13Therefore 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. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. 19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
So I thought about this correlation because it's sort of a metaphor on top of a metaphor. My brain was bombarded by this doubled metaphor in my mind, but I put it aside as we discussed the passage and how we can apply it to our lives.
For me to become a good dirt biker I need to have the right bike, protective armor, and my body needs to be in good shape. Likewise, for me to become a better Jesus follower I need to pray to God for wisdom and strength, keep myself away from temptations, and know the word of God (The Bible). These are all hard things to obtain, yet the hardest part after that is to be fearless. When I ride my dirt bike I get in the zone of 'no fear'. There is always discerning judgments concerning paths and rocks and roots in the ground, but no fear of hardships or injury. In life when I have an opportunity to follow Jesus by telling someone of the gospel, for some reason I am afraid. I think of myself instead of others. That would be like thinking of how I look in my dirt bike armor rather than thinking of how I should turn, before I run into the next tree. There should always be discernment in what to say, but there should not be fear in telling the good news of Jesus Christ. I should have no fear of hardships or injury (mental, emotional, or physical) when standing up for God and sharing what Jesus has done for me.
If you actually finished reading this- thankyou. If you just skipped everything to read the end- I understand completely. Whoever you are, if you have a question about God, Jesus, or what brand my armor is send me a line through the comments thingy and i will definitely catch up with you.
