December 04, 2016

Sunday Devotional With Mr. E: Prepare for the Mess

Art shirts, old clothes, aprons, table cloths, drop cloths, rags, plastic bags....and a host of other things.
Artists prepare for the mess.  Now some art lends itself to being neater than others, but usually to get to the beauty...you go through spills, drips, scraps of this or that, glue everywhere, and so much more.  Because experience has taught us, we prepare for these issues before they happen.  I know that when I don't have a towel by my side....that is when I'll need it the most.  Being prepared for such things doesn't mean I'm trying to be careless or that I'm not applying craftsmanship at its finest.  It just means I'm not going to allow myself to be in a position where I'm unprepared for the possibility. 


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.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  
Ephesians 6: 13-17

Life is messy.  Things happen that can take our focus off of the Lord.  One day it seems our walk with God is going great.  The next day we find temptation all around & old sin/struggles that can cause us to stray from the path.  We are in a world where temptation is all around us & sin/personal struggles can be indulged in a moment's notice.  If we do not plan to protect ourselves from succumbing to such things....then we are planning on cleaning up the mess they create in the near future.  Salvation does not keep us from dealing with struggles, but it does give us a way to handle them when they come our way.  Ephesians gives us a call to put on the full armor of God. Armor isn't needed if life was an easy cakewalk of an experience.  Armor is needed for battle.  Armor is needed for those who serve the King.   If the Lord saw fit for this to be in scripture, don't you think that the armor of God is something we must consider each & every day?  It isn't a "magical" fix to the battles we'll face.  It is however a reminder of who God is...and who God made us to be!  If we remember those things, when temptation/sin/struggles come up against us...we can claim the truth of scripture and overcome the battle.  However, we must remember that the battle rages on continually, and we can not become too comfortable when we experience victories.  We may learn things that will help us in the future, feel we are stronger in some areas than before, but we can never let down our guard and allow ourselves to become too comfortable.  We must plan for the messes of life.  We must be prepared even when we aren't expecting things to get messy.  

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