Pick up the Shield

A few years ago, I heard the story of a college student who put scripture on the headboard of his bed.

You see, this particular young man struggled with sexual sin.  Before he was saved, he often bedded many different women.  Even after he got saved, his sexual temptation would be great, and he often found himself giving into sexual temptation, even though he now knew it was not pleasing to God.

So he devised a plan.  On his own, he could not resist sex, but with the help of Jesus, he could.  So he started printing out scriptures and taping them to the headboard of his bed.  His reasoning was simple. When he would lie down in bed, particularly with a woman, he would see that scripture and it would remind him to stop. 

To paraphrase his words, "It's hard to have sex when you're looking at scripture from the Bible."

He understood what Paul meant when he wrote about the shield of faith.  A shield is mobile and able to protect multiple vulnerable spots in the heat of battle.  Just as a physical shield protects, so does the shield of faith. Only by relying on our faith in Christ can we overcome the fiery arrows of temptation that Satan and his minion shoot our way. 

You see, Satan knows our vulnerable spots. He knows just where to aim and fire and shoot.  Without the shield of faith - without relying upon our faith in Christ - the arrows will sink in and wound us deeply.  We will not survive the spiritual battles when we give in to temptation.  Satan knows that and he knows just where to hit us.

So we need to know our weak spots.  And we need the faith of Christ to protect those weak spots.  On our own, we will fail.  With Christ, and only with Christ, can we succeed.

Paul calls us to pick up the shield of faith and deflect the attacks of the evil one.  We must, because if we don't, we will lose.  When we give in on temptation, it effects our relationships, our integrity, our ministry and our witness.

Don't give in.  Pick up the shield.  You need it.