Not long ago, the long summer school holiday was coming to an end, and in lots of Bunbury families preparations were being made for a new academic year. Young people who had gained satisfactory G.C.S.E. results were signing on for Sixth Form courses and scanning lists of all the books and equipment they would need. Parents of Aldersey School pupils were busy buying - and labelling - shirts, ties, socks, P.E. kit and everything needed for the new term. Mothers, muttering, “He can’t have grown that much over the holiday!” checked over last year’s kit, glad that at least the lunch-box was still there, and the P.E. bag.
It is very important, of course, to be ready, not only for school but for work enterprises and key meetings. The surgeon about to perform an operation must have his kit and instruments all where they are needed. It would be useless for firemen to turn up to a fire with half their equipment missing.
Now in the same way that it is important for us to prepare for school or for work, so we need to be prepared spiritually. St. Paul warned the Christians in Ephesus (Ephesians VI, 10-20) that they were involved in a spiritual battle; to prepare themselves for the fight, they should put on all the armour which God provides.
His readers were familiar with this picture.Gladiators were trained until they became masters of each weapon in turn, and learnt how to protect themselves as well as attack without exposing themselves to a counter attack. Any weakness in their training, or in their armour, could be exploited by an opponent, potentially with fatal consequences.
So with the Ephesians of the first century; so with us of the twenty-first century. We need to be ready, and we need to be well equipped, putting on the whole armour of God if we are to be fully protected. Some of our equipment is for defence: the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the mail-coat of integrity. Some is for attack: the word of God as a sword with which to counter the attacks of the Devil.
Soldiers spend a lot of time polishing and furbishing their equipment, checking everything before they go into battle. If someone was to check our personal Christian armour, how would it stack up? Five out of ten? Not much use then against the enemy we have to deal with!
It is important, if we are to win, never to underestimate the enemy. In a conventional human war, we keep an eye on where our enemy is and what his movements are. We must be as vigilant in the spiritual battle.
In “The Screwtape Letters”, C.S. Lewis records an imaginary conversation between a devil and his young apprentice, in which he advises that one of their most successful propaganda campaigns has been to persuade people that the Devil is a harmless imaginary comic figure in red tights and a tail. It is an image that makes people relax their guard and even put away their armour, lulled into a false sense of security.
Not so, warns Paul: we must be vigilant against these and all such wiles, always watchful and ready. For our fight is not against human foes, but against cosmic powers, . . . . against the superhuman forces of evil in the heavens. Therefore, take up God’s armour; then you will be able to stand your ground when things are at their worst, to complete every task and still to stand.
Simon de Bell
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