Breastplate of Righteousness

In battle, I believe a breastplate is something extremely important (well not that I've ever been in battle, but I've seen enough Merlins and King Arthurrs to know what they are ;). A Breastplate covers your chest, some of your stomach, and part of your shoulders. It is made of very strong metal so that swords will not pierce it or bend it. But the most important occupation it holds is protecting the life giving, blood pumping heart, as well as other important organs. (Lookey, you're getting an anatomy lesson too ;)

Righteousness. Righteousness.

First let me tell you something my dad told me. Have you ever thought of how faithful means obedient? Being Faithful means being obedient to and honoring someone else. But it also is literally 'full of faith.' So if you want an increase in faith, it can come parallel to increased obedience and righteousness.

How does righteousness protect us in the war of life (or righteousness. I was gonna say righteousness, but then realized that would be redundant ;) ? Well, first, our obedience must be molded perfectly to fit us so as not to injure us and become counter productive. And guess who knows us the best and can  come up with the best blueprints for our armor? You guessed it, Heavenly Father. In the long run, the blueprints for the whole war are found in the plan of salvation. But the blueprints pertaining to our personal righteousness is found in the commandments and by listening to and following the Spirit.

Then this righteousness needs to be strong and immovable, so that not even swords wielded by the devil can pierce it. We need to keep our convictions strong, and never yield to temptation. Luckily thpugh, if you mess up or if there is a chink or weak spot onyour armor, you can go to the expert to fix it.

http://churchleaderscampfire.com/wp-content/uploads/Armor-of-God.jpg

Jesus Christ is the ultimate hero, healer, and making-weak-things-strong-person ;). He will help you as you build your armor piece by piece so that you can fight for God and all good.

We're all in this together. As each of us works on our personal righteousness, we will be able to protect the life in all of us. But there is an even greater heart to this-- as we put on our armor, we are protecting our eternal life. Thank you thank you to God for his unspeakable gift.