One of our local policemen
wore plain clothes to a youth sporting event and I was surprised by his slim
stature. It finally dawned on me that I normally see him in full uniform
wearing a bulletproof vest, which gives him more of a muscular appearance. As
a believer I’ve always thought of wearing the full armor of God as a personal
thing...it’s never occurred to me that on any particular day others can tell
whether or not I’m wearing my armor. Paul said, “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” (Eph 6:13 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----It’s probably a good thing the officer wasn’t at the sporting event naked. We don’t usually like to go around in public naked. That he wasn’t in his uniform, yet he was in public, we take it for granted that he was in street cloths. But the street cloths are still a step away from what we ourselves really are. Although the street cloths are not the uniform, bullet proof vest included, they are still protection, publicly apropos, personally selected, and culturally made. They are just protection of a lesser sort. They won’t stop bullets. But they do stop the more intimate details of what we really look like.
-----We don’t like uniforms a whole lot, otherwise we would all go around in them looking like everyone else. That’s why there’s so many different companies making clothing, although clothing itself is a uniform of sorts. There are so many different tastes to serve. People dress to rather individual standards, but individual standards are rather constrained by a broader public standard. We rarely see someone running around our neighborhood in a sari. They would feel kind of foolish. Yet when a group from our church recently visited India, they ran around amongst all the sari dressed people wearing their Western shirts and pants. It’s kind of like we will acknowledge the overarching constraints of our own culture, thank you much.
-----And this is why it was a sad day when America stepped onto that 1960’s path of culture-change. I’m not at all referring to the change in clothing style. That’s just been a vehicle of this message. I’m referring to the change away from the more uniform cultural respect for Christianity/family/country to the cultural mentality of scientism/subject/state through the deception of empowering the individual. Empowerment of the individual purposefully served the manipulators of that change the coordination of a popular mood to be looking towards the state for security. Within this purpose, Christianity must be left for dead, because the authority of its Father is a challenge to the authority of the state. As such, the 1960’s redesigned the uniform from slightly reflecting Christ to distinctly reflecting anti-Christ. Does scientism not bear witness?
-----Maybe I’m a bit biased, but today, I see a church desperately trying to pull street clothes over the top of its armor of God because of it. Society places a high value on “the scientific” look. American culture now expects us to interpret the aspects and affairs of our lives according to scientific understanding. It is no longer appropriate to be seen publicly while in God’s armor. That’s now viewed as being next to naked. “Of course you have a right to your religion, just keep it to yourself!” And while most of us have sense enough to put on as much of His armor as the “knobs” and “protrusions” of our individual, mutant flaws will allow, many of us have lost the good sense of our armor’s being seen. Those foolish enough to strip off their armor so their street cloths will look all natural quickly become lion fodder. Those who wear the armor under the cover of street cloths may yet be safe from Satan’s fiery darts, but they strengthen that cultural pressure causing weaker brethren to strip down and become lion fodder. That’s not a good thing. It’s a selfish thing.
-----The Lord’s armor is beautiful to the properly trained eye. Wear it in the open as a challenge for the public eye to get some training -quickly- for He comes soon, and He will come as the true Lion. Scientism is no armor against that Lion.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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