Ephesians 6:14 NLT
[14] “Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness.”
The next piece of “armour” covers our chest, protecting our lungs and heart, the most vital parts of our bodies without which we cannot live. What do our lungs and heart represent? Our lungs provide the oxygen our bodies need to function efficiently. Our hearts pump blood, carrying oxygen and nutrients to every cell in our bodies and waste matter away to be eliminated.
Air and nutrients are the essential ingredients that keep us alive. Truth is the spiritual counterpart that keeps us spiritually alive, drawn into our spirits as we take in the Word that influences our every thought and action.
Righteousness is our standing in God. He has cancelled the guilty verdict against us and rewritten our standing from “guilty” to “not guilty”. Regardless of our day-to-day thoughts and actions, we are permanently righteous because Jesus gave us His own righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV
[21″God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Keeping our standing in righteousness always in mind, even if we sin, is the safeguard we have against one of Satan’s favourite tactics…condemnation!
Oh, how he enjoys accusing us when we have stepped out of line! He piles on the condemnation, trying to convince us that God is finished with us!
What an indictment against a merciful and faithful God who has assured us that we are forever righteous which is our standing in His grace and can never be taken away. We may blow it, but God has made provision even when we sin.
1 John 2:1-2 NLT
[1] “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. [2] He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”
Hiw do we deal with condemnation?
First, we identify the voice of the accuser. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit convinces us of righteousness. What does He mean?
John 16:8 NLT
[8]”And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.”
Although three groups are not specifically categorised, the Holy Spirit has a focus on, first, unbelievers (the world). He convicts them of sin. Second, He convicts believers, not of sin since our own conscience does that for us…
1 John 3:21 NIV
[21]”Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God…”
Romans 2:14-15 NIV
[14] “(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. [15] They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)”
…but of righteousness. He draws attention to our standing before God. Sin is a temporary lapse but the Spirit calls us to righteousness. His strategy is not to intensify our guilt but to call us back to who we are!
The third category in the Holy Spirit’s trilogy of focus is Satan. His destiny is judgment from which he can never escape. When he tries to condemn the sinning believer, the Spirit convinces him of his fate.
Our protection against the devil’s accusations, then is to remember and stand on our standing in righteousness before God. No matter what, we are forever righteous, guaranteed by Christ’s righteousness in us, and nothing can change our position.
We must breathe righteousness so that it can circulate and nourish our every thought and action. No matter what strategy Satan uses to try to breach our breastplate of righteous, it remains impenetrable because God said so, we believe it, and we are safe!
“This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence
Living in me/2/
This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word
Spoken to me
And I… I’m desparate for you
And I… I’m lost without you
This is air I breathe
Your holy presence
Living in me
This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very word
Spoken to me
And I… I’m desparate for you
And I… I’m lost without you”
REPEAT.
(Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Joseph Oscar Mettle
This Is the Air I Breathe lyrics © Ghmusic Publishing And Management)
We have a safeguard, a gauge if you like, that helps us to stay on track if and when we sin. We’ll examine this piece of our armour in our next post.
To be continued…