To Stand Firm

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. -Ephesians 6:13

This is a verse that has always stumped me. It's redundant, and the redundancy doesn't make sense to me. Too many "to stands" in there. Since it's a passage that's talking about going to battle, I took it to mean something like this:

Put on the armor so that when you're fighting you can stand your ground and fight back, and once it's over, be left standing. Not laying on the ground having been beaten to a bloody pulp.

That's the best I could come up with. But you know, the longer I sit in a passage, the more things there are that jump out at me.

Recently, I've been praying these verses over a friend of mine. As I was thinking about her battles and praying through this passage, a new interpretation came to me. In my Bible is a written note about this particular verse: "To stand" - to get ready for battle; the Lord will rescue and save me because He's already won!

I replaced "to stand" with "to get ready for battle," and here's what I got:

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to get ready for battle, and after you have done everything [and fought], to get ready for battle.

Maybe Paul wasn't saying so much that we need to come out of the battle still standing on our feet. Maybe he was saying that our battle against evil is continual. Once we come out of the battle we're in now, we immediately prepare ourselves for the next.

After all, our fight is spiritual and we can't always see it coming. We don't get to call the shots and decide when we're ready to step onto the battlefield. The enemy is going to bombard us from all possible sides, especially when we're at our weakest.

And so we must get ready.

Primary Colors

I remember as a gradeschooler learning about colors. My art teacher asked a classmate as he peered into his box of crayons, "Which of these colors look like they aren't made by mixing any other colors together?" I already knew the primary colors and therefore the answer. But I still remember wondering who in the world would be able to answer a question like that without already knowing the answer.

I was thinking about these three primary colors again - red, blue, and yellow - and wondered if there were any other colors that exist that can't be created by mixing others together. Of course there aren't, because art gurus from centuries past would have named them by now. But I still tried to come up with some anyway.

Then I wondered why God didn't create more than three primary colors, because He sure could. He could make colors no one has yet seen if He wanted. But He didn't. He gave us only three.

Maybe they represent God Himself. Red, blue, and yellow are like the Trinity - Father, Son, and Spirit. And through these Three, all other things are made.

FYI

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Let me know if you have any questions.

Leftovers

In our daily offerings and sacrifices to God, do we give Him the firstfruits of the blessings we've received? Do we offer Him whatever we have leftover at the end of the day? Or do we wait until Sundays to clean out the fridge and toss at Him the smelly, moldy remains of another week gone by?

In reference to this topic, I recently heard the phrase "throwing God a bone with some meat left on it."

First I chuckled. Throwing God a bone? As if He were a dog looking for a treat. But then in my mind I saw an image of me feasting at a table. The table of life where God has served me all kinds of blessings. He stands nearby, watching me enjoy my feast.

I feast on, forgetting the very Hand that served me this wealthy table.

When I'm finished I glance up, see Him still standing there, and toss Him a bone that I was chewing on. Because after taking care of myself, that's all I have left to offer Him.

Then I saw how it should be. Instead of offering God my leftovers, I should be the one preparing the meal. I should be planning a four-course gourmet meal fit for a King. Then I should serve it to Him and watch Him enjoy the best of my offerings, knowing that while I can never offer anything good enough, He still takes pleasure in receiving the best I am able to give.

And because that is enough for Him, that becomes my feast.

Because He is all that matters.

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This post stemmed from listening to the audiobook Crazy Love by Francis Chan on my drives home from work.

The Party

I finally got around to having my Christmas party. But since it's now July and a different holiday, I called it a 4th of July party instead.

The serious planning began a couple months ago. I mapped out in my head what I wanted to do, who I wanted to invite, what food and supplies to buy, how to set up, and so forth. My party became official when I submitted an invitation to be included in the church bulletin.

Thursday night was when all the action started. I made a list of things that needed to be done and started tidying up the house a little (can't have people see how I actually live when they're not around). Friday was spent (with a little help from a few friends) mowing, trimming, sweeping, hosing out the garage, moving tables and coolers, and shopping for food and drink. Saturday morning was spent setting up the garage, doing laundry, cleaning the bathroom, sweeping and Swiffering, and making potato salad.

By the time 1:30 rolled around I was just about ready to go...and I was completely exhausted.

So I took a nap.

Then I got up and went back to work, finishing up the last details and making myself presentable. Finally, people started to show up and the party started. We sat and chatted, grilled, drank soda, laughed, roasted some marshmallows, and watched the kids run around the yard with sparklers. It was a good time with beautiful weather and wonderful people.

Couldn't help but parallel this with our spiritual lives. This was the first time I've entertained since I moved into my house nearly eight months ago, so as far as I was concerned, this was THE party. As I lay down to sneak my nap in that afternoon, it occurred to me how much time and effort had gone into the preparation. The more I poured into it, the greater my expectations became.

Christ-followers are preparing for the ULTIMATE party. We don't even know what to begin to expect at this Gathering, but we do know how to prepare.

Now, we can receive our tickets to get in and just bide time until that day arrives.

Or we can spend every day of our earthly lives preparing for the best Celebration ever. It's hard work, don't get me wrong. There's a lot of time, prayer, study, sacrifice, and even money involved. Sometimes we may even have to stop and rest for a spell, but then we get up and keep right on going. Some jobs require quiet mental preparation while others demand hard physical labor. Whatever the task, it is important to the final outcome.

And when our preparations are finished, we will find it was all worth it.

After all, the more of ourselves we pour into the Party, the greater our expectations will be.

And we will not be disappointed.