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

In spite of the concerns around Covid-19, college and professional football began a few weeks ago. This week I read of players on the “virus list” instead of the injured list. Of course, news stories do still consistently report the injuries experienced by players in spite of the proper equipment – the helmet, faceguard, mouth guard, neck roll, shoulder pads, knee pads, thigh pads, gloves, and football shoes.

The parallel is obvious in the passage above. Just as a football player wouldn’t think of going out to compete half-dressed, we shouldn’t do the same in the spiritual fight. Paul tells us that in order to stand our ground and remain standing at the end, we must put on the full armor, not just a sword or a helmet or something else.

Read through the list of “equipment” Paul includes below and ask yourself what you can do without –

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:14-17).