(The helmet
Pt. 2 of 2)
“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of
Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that
leads to godliness; a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life,
which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.”
Titus
1:1-3
Just
as the neck supports the head; so our hope of eternal life supports our faith
and knowledge in Christ Jesus. The helmet of salvation protects our understanding
of God’s great and precious promises. Without this piece of the armor, the
enemy along with life itself, can diminish or rob us of our knowledge of them.
In
order to guard against this, we must protect what we allow to penetrate our
minds. The presence of the helmet in Paul’s list of armor tells us that our
minds should not be open to anything and everything. The helmet protects us
from being drawn away and misguided by the various teachings and ideologies of
deceitful men:
“Then we
will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here
and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and the craftiness of
men in their deceitful scheming.”-Ephesians 4:14.
James,
an early church father, called this being double-minded and declared in James
1:8 that a double-minded man is unstable in all he does. So it is imperative
that we protect our mind and thought life from the enemy’s attacks.
Scripture
tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:16 that we are to have the mind of Christ. However,
because of our fallen nature, we must have our old sinful mind renewed:
“Do not conform any longer to the patter of
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be
able to test and approve what God’s will is; his good, pleasing, and perfect
will.”-Romans 12:2.
This
transformation process is two-fold. First we must take captive those thoughts
that do not conform to the new mind we have in Christ:
“We demolish arguments and
every pretention that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take
captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”-2 Corinthians 10:5.
If
it is contradictory to the Word of God or communicates something contrary to
the will of God; that thought must be taken captive and brought under the
obedience of Christ.
Secondly,
we must then fill our minds with what is good, righteous, and edifying:
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true,
whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable; if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about
such things.”-Philippians 4:8.
Satan
understands that if he can control what you think about; he can control you.
Knowing this, we must keep ourselves firmly seated in Christ and guard what
comes into our minds if we hope to stand against the Devil’s schemes.
Pastor
Scott Burr
Lead
Pastor
Dayspring
Community Church
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