“So stand firm and hold your ground, having tightened the wide band of truth (personal integrity, moral courage) around your waist and having put on the breastplate of righteousness (an upright heart), 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]. Above all, lift up the [protective] ]shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” (Ephesians 6:14-17 Amplified Bible)
As an attention – getter technique, a Vacation Bible School teacher, placed a table in front of her students. On the table was a fireman’s hat, a military hat, a navy hat, church hats for both genders, a French beret, a baseball hat, a construction worker hat, a chef’s hat, and a gladiator type, plastic helmet “hat.” The teacher asked which hat was most important and allowed volunteers to explain their choices. She listened patiently to every student, expressing that she understood the rationale behind their picks. Two hats were left toward the end of the exercise, the chef hat, and the helmet “hat.” She asked the class, “Why did no one choose those two hats?” Instead of an answer, there was a question posed by a pupil whose arm kept stretching higher to make sure not to be overlooked. The ceiling was in jeopardy! The question, “Why is the chef’s hat so tall?” The teacher, having worked in a dinner theatre while going through school was equipped to answer the question. She explained the taller the hat, the higher the rank. She shared how she carved beef and had a hat that was close to her scalp. Then, she pointed out that the chef’s hat was seemingly four times as high. Wide eyes were everywhere in the classroom. Good discussion, but there was still the helmet “hat.” The teacher sought a volunteer, but got no response. This couldn’t’ have been planned any better because having the children’s attention, she could teach about one specific piece of the full armor of God. Yes, she could focus on the helmet as the most important hat on the table. She heard all kind of objections when she said, “As a matter of fact, , this is the tall hat; taller than any other on the table”. The students give a variety of responses, all which could be summarized by three words, “No it’s not!”
Anticipating the response, she came prepared. She made a prepared multi-page flip chart with hand drawn pictures to justify her answer. One picture was of an Assurance Policy, and she talked about the confidence and hope that believers have in terms of salvation. Salvation took a little more explaining, as you can imagine. Another picture was of a stick person hitting the helmet on top of another stick person’s head. She pointed out that no enemy, including Satan, bad friends, or people that would try to steal the joy of knowing for sure that they are saved, once they confess Christ could harm their conviction of mind. The last picture was of a helmet with a buckled strap, to lead to discussion about keeping the helmet on! She went on to tell how they will be able to keep it on by continuing to come to Vacation Bible School during that week, getting in the habit of studying the word in Sunday School as children and after they accept Christ, as adults, asking questions when they don’t understand a passage, as well as singing a certain song that has a doctrinal meaning. A child ask, “What song?” The teacher responded, “Victory Is Mine” and led a sing along with the children. Prepared again, the word were on the last page of her flip chart.
What’s in this meditation for you? Well, let me emulate the children who instead of answering, posed a question: “What are you doing to keep your helmet of salvation buckled tightly on your being?” Okay, now you evaluate what you need to do to make sure it never comes loose or is snatched loose by the false teachings of our times. Keep your helmet fastened! Don’t loosen your tall hat! Keep your helmet buckled! Don’t be an apostate! The consequence is not good! Fasten up and have a great Thursday! If need be, hold on to your tall hat, just a little while longer! Be blessed!
“Or how can those who abandon their faith be brought back to repent again? They were once in God’s light; they tasted heaven’s gift and received their share of the Holy Spirit; they knew from experience that God’s word is good, and they had felt the powers of the coming age. And then they abandoned their faith! It is impossible to bring them back to repent again, because they are again crucifying the Son of God and exposing him to public shame.” (Hebrews 11:4-6 Good News Translation)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King