When Satan attacks believers, we’re to, “…take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one…” (Eph 6:16 ESV) I try to imagine how I might respond to those incoming darts. Would I hunker down behind my shield, or peek over the top to see how many were coming in? I’d like to think I’d push my shield forward to meet the impact. I guess step one is to pick up the shield.
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Dictionaries make three basic points in defining faith: 1) belief; 2) trust; 3) loyalty. For sure these points can be applied to any set of ideas, but Scripture calls for applying them to the Lord. And Scripture is replete with calls to believe in Him, trust Him, and be loyal to Him. So this shield we place between ourselves and the source of life’s troubles coming at us quickly is more than just believing, or just trusting, or just being loyal. To have a faith fashioned from only one of these elements would be like wearing a shirt made only of threads with no pattern or buttons. It would not be effective.
-----So in belief we accept the truths of His Word and shape our world views accordingly. World view is important because it is the pattern of ideas by which we relate to the circumstances of our surroundings and the other people sharing or creating those circumstances. Of course the relationship we have with any circumstance involves our trek into His kingdom, both now on earth and then in our eternal bliss. Belief reconciles each painful or destructive circumstance with the destination of our trek and thus increases knowledge, understanding, and wisdom - the very materials of belief - thus generating more belief.
-----But we do not fashion those materials into faith unless we trust that His Word is true and His purposes involve loving care for us. There are many people who believe, but simply do not trust He has a righteous interest in us. Failing to trust His concern for our plights, both temporal and eternal, relegates belief to a mere mental exercise having no effective pattern. Belief must be more than this, because it is about the reality of a relationship meant for good, and it must fit that reality.
-----Loyalty puts the faith on and keeps it in place. It lifts up the shield. Even if faith is woven of strong threads into a fine fitting pattern, it is feckless unless it remains in place. Loyalty itself is more than merely standing by the Lord. It is more than doing the things of the Lord. It is being a faithful reproduction of His character by acting, thinking, and feeling within that character. To be faithful to Him is like a CD faithfully reproducing the music once played in a recording studio.
-----So the shield of faith extinguishing the fiery darts is fashioned from the strong fibers of belief in God’s truths woven into a pattern effectively dealing with reality and having a secure handle for a faithful grip.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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