The White Stone

Shoes. Who doesn’t want a well-fitting, comfortable, and fashionable pair of shoes?
And what do shoes do? Well, they protect our feet from earth’s elements; cold, wet, sharp and/or damaging objects.  We need shoes; we need a buffer between our feet and the terrain we touch down on.

^{Ephesians 6: 15} and having strapped on your feet the gospel of peace in preparation [to face the enemy with firm-footed stability and the readiness produced by the good news]. source

Spiritually we also need a buffer, protection, from the cold, hot, hostile, sharp and damaging elements of this sin-cursed planet.  And that protection is the Gospel of Peace. The Gospel of the Prince of Peace.

When functioning is healthy what do feet do?
Stand. Walk. Run.

And so

Spiritually, we stand righteous when we are in Christ.
Spiritually, we walk in peace and safety when we walk with JESUS.
Spiritually, we run, when we are in Christ, when we have shod our feet with His Gospel, we flee temptation.

We have a Belt of Truth, we have Righteous Body Armor to cover our inner being and we have well-fitting Foot Gear that enables us to maneuver hostile terrain in peace! Let’s get Dressed.

And we have PJs! 🙂

I’m back . . .  🙂

Ephesians 6

Next piece: Breastplate of Righteousness

Breastplate.
Not a common word for a few centuries now. The New Living Translation terms it Body Armor; perhaps a clarification of torso would help our mental imagining.  That area of our frame from the neck to the navel, I read that somewhere, I don’t recall the source at the moment.

. . . and having put on the breastplate of righteousness (an upright heart),  source

The first was the belt of Truth.

So, what is this torso covering? This Breastplate? This Body Armor? That covering for the area where our vital organs are housed? For sure many of the garments I’ve seen do not cover well — not even as well as my PJs. Some really important stuff gets left hanging out . . . not good. You know what I mean?

But the Righteousness of JESUS firmly applied, covers and protects and nourishes our vital inner being! He heals our hearts; our lungs fill with Fresh Air; our gut is strong and ready to digest and pull in nutrients. But without Him . . .

The Belt of Truth
The Breastplate of Righteousness — Don’t even stay home in your PJs without them, much less leave the house!

Get Dressed

I purchased some really comfy PJs this week. I laundered them and I’ve not had them off so far yet today. 🙂

As I sit in these loose, warm fuzzies, I’m reading Ephesians 6.
Get Dressed in the Full Armor of GOD. You do see the humor in this, right?

The Armor of GOD. The first piece is the waistband. It covers the loin. You know the gut. And this Gut Cover is truth. So the first piece of ‘clothing’ we need in this world is Truth; and, we need to know Truth deep in our gut; deep in that place where life lives.

⁴ So stand firm and hold your ground, having tightened the wide band of truth (personal integrity, moral courage) around your waist. . .  source

Truth.
Life is a lie without it.

Part 1? Maybe.