Protect Your Mind!
"And take the helmet of salvation."
Ephesians 6: 17
Football players wear helmets and ice hockey players wear
helmets.
Baseball and softball players wear helmets when they bat. Jockeys
wear helmets when they ride. Cyclists wear helmets when they race
their mountain or road bikes.
These and other athletes put a premium
on protecting their brains from injury.
And soldiers protect their heads as well. No surprise, then, that
Paul
included the “helmet of salvation” in his list of the Christian’s
spiritual
armor. Paul draws much of his armor imagery from Isaiah where
God
is pictured as wearing spiritual “armor” (Isaiah 59:17) as well as
the
coming Messiah (Isaiah 11:5). Why the helmet of
salvation?
In short, because of the emphasis in Scripture on the mind. We
have
“the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16) and we are to renew our
mind
(Romans 12:2). The main battleground of spiritual warfare is the
mind,
the thought life (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). If Satan can cause us to
have
thoughts of doubt concerning our salvation, the battle tilts in his
favor.
We protect our mind with God’s promises concerning
salvation.
When you have doubts or insecurities, go to the
Word!
Renew your mind; protect your thought life. Meditate on
what is true (Philippians 4:8).
"Salvation is a helmet,
not a nightcap!"
Vance Havner
