The Breastplate of Righteousness!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 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.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

Don’t we hate when we make mistakes? Not only we get into troubles from our parents, but we also become disappointed. I was disappointed at my English skills when I could not get in Laidlaw Bible College. My English skills were not good enough. This happened because I hated to study English in Long Bay College and did not study it hard enough. However, I am thankful that I got into Carey Baptist College.

During this devotional series, I wrote about the eagerness of Satan who is the enemy of God. He strives to use everything for creating temptations within us to go astray from God, such as using worldly materials. He also can do this with feelings as well. His mission is to destroy our souls at the end of physical lives and send them to hell, the place of torment. However, we have learned that Jesus Christ paid our sins in full and our death penalties by His crucifixion (Colossians 2:13-15). We also have learned that God has given us eternal life in Him (Hebrews 2:14-15). Apostle Paul states, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) To put this simply, Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God. This means that as long as we believe in Christ’s name, God considers us as His righteous and holy people (Colossians 1:21-23). In fact, God has given us the right to become as His own children (John 1:12-13).

Since God has declared followers of Jesus Christ as righteous and holy people, why are we supposed to serve Him and others? God does not need us to serve Him, as He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. The definition of the word ‘omnipotent’ is “having very great or unlimited authority or power” (see Mark 10:27), ‘omniscient’ is “having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding; perceiving all things” (see Romans 11:33-36) and ‘omnipresent’ is “present everywhere at the same time” (see Revelation 1:8). Apostle Paul proclaims,

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

While one of my theological lecturer was teaching us about the repentance in Jesus Christ, a classmate said that it is because of “hunger for more of Him and gratitude for what He reveals Himself to us.” I believe this is same with serving Him. “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) Let us remember that it is because of humbleness and gratefulness that we should serve God wholeheartedly.