Saturday, June 25, 2022
One of the most unexpected people in history said, "True religion is real living: Living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness." This interesting thought from one of the most intriguing people of the last century transitions us from "The Belt of Truth" into the next element of God's Armor known as The Breastplate of Righteousness. Ephesians 6:10b, "Stand firm then…with the breastplate of righteousness in place," is where our discussion begins: a conversation about protecting what's closest to the heart of a true warrior of Christ - LOVE!
A Christian's most prized perspective or viewpoint is God's Love, reflecting His standard of righteousness. Righteousness is the standard of up-right (equable) relationships between people, regardless of social status. The bar is what creates and maintains God's Love. So many so-called Christ-followers today live in a warehouse of selfishness where they don't even realize what God's Love or Righteousness means. Communicate with your average believer today, and they want to say "be right" rather than "live right" in relationships with God and humanity in Love. It's pathetic because, in this cave of prideful and religious belief, it is doing nothing more than depleting God's purpose, separating people, and digging a more bottomless pit into hell – Don't believe it; just look at the results or fruit to know it is true.
Unrighteous people, in the faith, are unloving and self-righteous; they are everything Christ is not. This means they often "feel," in the name of the Holy Spirit, that they are right and define love in their pitiful way. They interpret love and righteousness with their senses but do not know God's principles or practices to produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit. These so-called believers are guilty of not upholding the righteousness of God and live in their own self-righteousness. The Apostle Paul said: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness ~ Romans 1:18."
The question is, what to do with these convictable believers? First, they need to learn how to empty themselves of unrighteousness and grasp God's LOVE! Over this mini-course, in the Armor of God series, we will understand four aspects of God's Love – affection, friendship, intimacy, and charity – and how it is used to build righteousness in life, yours and others. For the following five devotions, we will focus on what to do with our unrighteousness, God's Love, and how to protect it with the breastplate of righteousness, Jesus' style.
As for this intro, to put on the breastplate of righteousness means to believe what Ephesians 1:4 says about you, know you have been chosen by God to be holy and without blame before Him in love, you've been predestined to be adopted by Him and are fully accepted by God through His Beloved, Jesus. This is exactly what Albert Einstein shared about what true religion is all about.
With loving righteousness,