By Josie Siler
I’m a little OCD. I don’t have the disorder, but I do have obsessive compulsive tendencies. I prefer to call it my routine! When I was attending Seminary, I lived in a house with four other girls. One night as I was getting ready for bed, my roommate (who just so happened to be getting a clinical counseling degree) started to list off everything I was doing to get ready for bed one step before I did it. I hadn’t even realized I had a routine, but she had it down! She knew what each of my next steps were before I took them. Hmmm, I wonder what else she observed about me…I didn’t ask…sometimes it’s better not to know! Sickness has thrown a wrench in my routines, however there are certain things that I always do in a specific order.
Think about your morning routine. What do you do as soon as you wake up? Do you take your medication before you get out of bed and rest until they start kicking in? Maybe you take them as you eat breakfast. Do you get dressed right away or stay in your pj’s as long as possible? As you’re thinking about your morning routine, let me ask you this…
Have you put on your armor today? Is putting on your spiritual armor a part of your routine? We talked about putting on the belt of truth. We need this belt not only to hold everything in place, but to make sure that the voice we listen to is the voice of truth, the voice of God. In order to stand against the attacks of the evil one, which we will undoubtedly face today, we must put on not only the belt of truth, but the breastplate of righteousness. Ephesians 6:14 commands us to, “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.”
The breastplate of righteousness is an interesting piece of armor. The Bible tells us that we can’t achieve righteousness on our own. “As the Scriptures say, ‘No one is righteous—not even one (Romans 3:10, NLT).’”This may seem hopeless, but thankfully for us, God sent His very own Son, Jesus, to die on a cross as payment for our sins. “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins (Romans 3:22-24).”
When we put on the breastplate of righteousness, we are really putting on Jesus! It is through Him and Him alone that we can be found righteous. When we have Jesus protecting our heart, the very core of our body, we don’t need to be afraid of what may come at us in this life. Jesus is our protector, our vindicator, and our Savior. He is all we need, and we sure do need Him!
I’m a little OCD. I don’t have the disorder, but I do have obsessive compulsive tendencies. I prefer to call it my routine! When I was attending Seminary, I lived in a house with four other girls. One night as I was getting ready for bed, my roommate (who just so happened to be getting a clinical counseling degree) started to list off everything I was doing to get ready for bed one step before I did it. I hadn’t even realized I had a routine, but she had it down! She knew what each of my next steps were before I took them. Hmmm, I wonder what else she observed about me…I didn’t ask…sometimes it’s better not to know! Sickness has thrown a wrench in my routines, however there are certain things that I always do in a specific order.
Think about your morning routine. What do you do as soon as you wake up? Do you take your medication before you get out of bed and rest until they start kicking in? Maybe you take them as you eat breakfast. Do you get dressed right away or stay in your pj’s as long as possible? As you’re thinking about your morning routine, let me ask you this…
Have you put on your armor today? Is putting on your spiritual armor a part of your routine? We talked about putting on the belt of truth. We need this belt not only to hold everything in place, but to make sure that the voice we listen to is the voice of truth, the voice of God. In order to stand against the attacks of the evil one, which we will undoubtedly face today, we must put on not only the belt of truth, but the breastplate of righteousness. Ephesians 6:14 commands us to, “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.”
The breastplate of righteousness is an interesting piece of armor. The Bible tells us that we can’t achieve righteousness on our own. “As the Scriptures say, ‘No one is righteous—not even one (Romans 3:10, NLT).’”This may seem hopeless, but thankfully for us, God sent His very own Son, Jesus, to die on a cross as payment for our sins. “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins (Romans 3:22-24).”
When we put on the breastplate of righteousness, we are really putting on Jesus! It is through Him and Him alone that we can be found righteous. When we have Jesus protecting our heart, the very core of our body, we don’t need to be afraid of what may come at us in this life. Jesus is our protector, our vindicator, and our Savior. He is all we need, and we sure do need Him!
When we associate something new with something that is already part of our routine, it makes it easier to remember. That being said, this week let’s try something. Every morning when we take our medications, let’s put on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness and see what happens. Remember friends, there’s an epic battle raging and we’re a part of it. So tell me, have you put on Jesus today?
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” –Romans 5:3-6, ESV
© June 16, 2013
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” –Romans 5:3-6, ESV
© June 16, 2013
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