God’s Gear

Tate walked into the house, his arms loaded. "Mom, I'm all signed up for football," he said, dropping a big pile of football gear on the table."Great!" said Mom. She picked up a mouthpiece from the table. "What's this?"Tate grinned. "It protects my teeth. We wear heavy padding, shin guards, helmets, mouthpieces--all kinds of protection.""I'm glad to hear that!" Mom said. "Don't forget any of it.""I won't," Tate assured her. "I've already learned how important it is. I forgot my mouthpiece when I went to practice the other day, and Coach Grimes wouldn't let me play without it, so I had to go get it. Good thing too. When I got back, I got a good knock on my chin in the very first play. I could have gotten hurt without it."That evening, Tate showed his football gear to his dad. "I wore all that stuff back when I played football too," Dad told him. "In fact, I still wear special protective gear." Dad grinned at Tate's look of surprise. "It's called the armor of God. Do you know what the various pieces are?""Oh, that," said Tate. "One of them is a helmet--the helmet of salvation. We get it by trusting Jesus to save us from sin."Mom nodded. "And one is called the breastplate of righteousness. We wear it by remembering that Jesus has made us right with God. Let's see…another says to buckle truth around our waists. That means we need to use God's truth to defend ourselves against Satan's lies.""And our feet need to be ready to take us places where we can share the good news of Jesus with others," added Tate."I know one!" five-year-old Larson said enthusiastically. "We need swords. My teacher said the Bible is our sword.""Good!" said Mom. "The Bible tells us the truth about God and who we are in Jesus. We also need the shield of faith so we can trust God no matter what.""Why do we need all that equipment?" asked Dad."Because Satan wants us to take our eyes off Jesus and give in to sin and doubt," said Tate. Dad nodded. "Right. The armor of God is even more important than your football gear, Tate. It protects us from Satan, our worst enemy." -Doris Bantjes