Armor of God
theophilus October 30th, 2008
As men, we tend to try and go it alone; to face all of life’s challenges and difficulties with a solitary fortitude. We may pray for strength and guidance; but ultimately we think it’s up to us to stand up alone to all that life throws at us, our families, and our career.
And we would be wrong in thinking that we are lone wolves protecting our pack.
Today’s first reading is from Ephesians 6. St. Paul talks about us putting on the “armor of God” to resist the evil in our lives and hold our ground. He also talks about the “breastplate” of righteousness, the “shield” of faith, the “helmet of salvation” and the “sword of the Spirit.”
In other words, Christ is with us in every struggle we face. He is our armor, our breastplate, our shield, our helmet, and our sword. He is everything we need to prevail in the battles of our lives.
But there is more, St. Paul also tells us that we need to “pray at every opportunity in the Spirit” and “be watchful with all perseverance and supplication.”
And most importantly, we need to ”draw [our] strength from the Lord and from his mighty power.”
We are not fighting alone, if we pray and rely on Christ. We are not fighting in vain if we use all of the graces given to us by God to help us in our daily struggles with evil and sin.
There is a great battle going on in our culture today; it’s a fight that impacts our families, ourselves, and our neighbors. God expects us to engage in this fight for us and for them; and we best put on his armor to ensure that we have every chance to win.
I’m reminded that David refused the armor of men when he faced Goliath. Instead, he chose the armor of God. And that choice made all of the difference. We cannot rely on our strength (i.e. the armor of men) in this fight. We must, like David, rely on the armor of God. He is all that we need to prevail.
