"As a Christian soldier you must always stand
in a defensive posture with your armor on, ready to defend the treasure God has
given you to keep.
"And take the
helmet of salvation" Ephesians 6:17. These words of Scripture present us
with another piece in the Christian's armor-- the helmet of salvation to cover
his head in the day of battle. This helmet, together with most of the other
pieces of armor, are defensive arms, to protect the Christian from sin but not
to keep him from suffering.
Only one piece in
the whole armor is for offense-- the sword. Scripture hints that the
Christian's war lies chiefly on the defense and therefore requires defensive arms
to fight it. God has deposited a rich treasure of grace in every saint's heart,
which the devil spitefully tries to rob the Christian of by waging a bloody war
against him. And so the believer overcomes his enemy when he himself is not
overcome. He wins the day when he does not lose his grace, his work being to
keep what is his rather than to get what is the enemy's. Because the saint's
war lies chiefly on the defense, we must instruct the Christian how to manage
combat with both Satan and his weapons of war.
As a Christian
soldier you must always stand in a defensive posture with your armor on, ready
to defend the treasure God has given you to keep, and to repel Satan's
assaults. But do not step outside the line of your calling which God has drawn
about you. Let Satan be the assailant and come if he will to tempt you; but do
not go out and tempt him to do it.
Even when the devil's instruments of war reproach
the Christian, the Gospel does not allow him to use the devil's weapons to
return them stroke for stroke. "Be pitiful, be courteous: not rendering
evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing" 1 Peter
3:8-9. You have a girdle and breastplate to defend you from their bullets-- the
comfort of your own sincerity and holy walk. With these you can repel the
sordid arsenal thrown at you-- but there is no weapon for self-revenge.”
Quoted material from, ”The Christian in Complete
Armour Daily Readings in Spiritual Warfare” by Gurnall and James S Bell. http://www.moodypublishers.com/pub_productDetail.aspx?id=41823&pid=53617
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