Day 13 - Monday

Day 13

 

"Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place," Ephesians 6:14 (NIV)

Today we examine the next piece of armor that Paul exhorts us to "put on."  This piece is called "the breastplate of righteousness."  At the time Paul was writing this epistle, the Romans were the ruling power over the civilized world.  When he writes of armor and warfare, much of his illustrations come from a Roman perspective.  The Roman breastplate was typically made of bronze, backed with leather. It was designed to protect the vital area. A blow through this was usually fatal.

What vital areas did the breastplate cover?  Only all the major internal organs that we all need to survive.  The most important of these, of course, is the heart.  And Paul says that the breastplate will protect our heart. 

 

But although a bronze piece of armor, backed with leather, can protect you and me from a physical blow of attack, it will not safeguard our spiritual heart.  Remember as kids we used to say the rhyme:  "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  Nothing can be further from the truth.  Some people have even made the comment that they would have preferred being struck than to have the words spoken to them which broke their hearts and spirits. 

 

Why is that?  Because first and foremost, we are spiritual beings.  And when someone or a situation wounds us at the "heart level," it harms us deeper than we can comprehend. 

 

Paul is saying to us that the defensive power of righteousness will cover and protect our hearts.  Maybe this is why Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.  He knows that when we let other things take first place in our lives, it will not be able to protect our hearts and possibly those things can even harm us. 

 

Let us begin this week, by looking for the righteousness of God to be great in our lives as we examine our hearts and learn what this breastplate is all about.

 

Prayer:  "Father, I've known what it is to have my heart wounded.  I know what it is to be in pain.  Let me this day be covered in your righteousness that I may be protected in the inward parts of my heart and soul.  In Jesus I pray, Amen."