Mighty Centurions, Armadillos, and Pill Bugs

Eph 6: 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh. And blood, but agiainst the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God they you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 27 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

Cool passage.  Imagine yourself standing on a hill in a centurion's armor. Shield up, sword out  feathers on your helmet swaying in the wind as you face a sea of demons.  Their fangs bared and dripping with venom and their sulfurous breaths spewing gusts of poisonous fumes.  Flaming arrows loosed and speeding towards you.  You are standing there poised for fierce battle.  Behind you racing on towards you are the armies of the lord.   Angels blowing their trumpets and white horses galloping at break neck speeds.  You stand ready.  Your chiseled jaw set in grim determination. Right?

Back to reality.  Do you remember playing with potato bugs, or pill bugs, sometimes called rolley poleys as a kid?  You know, those silver/gray colored little grub bugs that when you touched them they rolled up into a ball and then you rolled them around or collected them to see how many little balled up bugs you could get?  Well let's get back to that sea of demons that was being faced.  The demons can come in the form of all kinds of things. Trials, financial woes, grief, temptations, false accusations, etc. Each person has his or her own. So often we, I, just want to grab my bible, my cross hug them close to my heart and roll up into a ball, and like the pill bugs, pray I don't get squished.  Don't get me wrong, I have had my centurion moments.  Not as many as I would like though.  

Then there are moments when maybe you feel a little stronger spiritually so you have some teeth maybe some sharp claws.  An armadillo has pointy sharp teeth and some pretty nasty looking claws too.  But then the coyotes and hawks and buzzards attack, kinda like the demons. What does the armadillo do?  Curls up in a ball with its scaley armor on the outside and it's soft underside protected. 

We all want to be the brave stalwart warrior standing on the hill alone facing incredible odds right?
That is great for the fantasy artists (Vallejo, Frazetti, et.al.) however; that is not how it was meant to be. OK.  Ancient military history 101.  The Romans conquered everything Alexander the Great did and then went further west and conquered everything else.  How were they able to do that? It was not by standing alone on a hill facing a formidable and invincible foe.  They did it by fighting in block formations. They were the greatest open field warriors in the world.  They also were greatly trained in up close in fighting.  The famous Roman short sword was a nasty and affective weapon.  The point of all this history was that they were not alone. They understood that the guy next to them was the guy mostly likely to save their life and that they were most likely the one to save the other guy's life.  They marched across Europe and Africa and parts of Asia unstoppable. 

Now let's apply this method of fighting to God's church.  Not only are we fighting side-by-side with our brothers and sisters but we love them too.  When the enemy is great we stand firm. Why? 1) we are in the army of almighty God, the creator of the universe. And 2) our brothers and sisters who love us and whom we love, have our backs.  They are ready to step in and fight with and for us as we are for and with them.  Formidable?  You betcha!  Is this how the church is?  Sometimes. But not often enough.  Am I judging the Church? By no means.  Not my job. Don't want the responsibility.   God's job. His church.  So what's my point? Too often we, I, curl up into a ball with my cross and bible clutched close to my heart. So what happens then?  Well, I can stay all curled up but that never works.  Eventually I will have to unroll and what then? Re-curl?  I will be squished.  So I cry out to the Lord and what does He do? He holds out his hand, chastises me about my lack of faith and tells me to look up.  What do I see?  I see the Lord's hand in the form of my brother or sister all decked out in armor holding out their hand.  I rise and take my place next to them. And stand. 

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