That's No Bat, That's My Face!

The Whole Armor of God #4

Much of my time in junior high was spent longing for the time when I would be in high school. This boils down to one reason, and one reason only: no more P.E. I’m not a very coordinated person; therefore, I’m not entirely athletic. Also, I don’t enjoy sweating. Then there were the two times in eighth grade when we played softball and I was up to bat.

The coach was pitching. She (accidentally) pegged me in the mouth with the softball while I was standing there, bat at the ready. It wasn’t too long after that incident that I was at the plate again. Once again, the coach was pitching, and once again, I was hit in the mouth by the softball. Needless to say, the rest of the time that our class played softball as part of P.E., I let all my classmates cut in front of me in the batting order.

What I needed was the catcher’s mask, apparently, or something – anything – to shield my face from the pitcher. If I could have deflected that pitch, I would have been spared a lot of pain. As Christians, we should take with us the Shield of Faith. Paul explains why this is so important in Ephesians 6:16: with it, we will be able to “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one” (NKJV).

Since real battle shields are made of different materials, they are able to undergo different forms of attack. It is rather obvious that a flimsy shield made of cardboard and aluminum foil will not prevent as much damage as one made of steel. Likewise, the substance of our faith will determine how much attack we can withstand. The greater our faith, the greater our stand will be against false teachers and sin. The lesser our faith, the lesser our stand will be against false teachers and sin.

How is your Shield of Faith? Are you confident it will hold up in spiritual warfare?