Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
The unrelenting spiritual (really, unspiritual!) assaults of Satan and the demons (Revelation 9) require a response of hardiness by every Christian. If we are to “stand therefore” (Ephesians 6:14), we must have our “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15). The picture here is not of evangelism, although that imagery is employed in Isaiah 52:7 and Romans 10:15, as we saw yesterday. The primary thought of this piece of spiritual armor is preparedness or readiness. The sandals that soldiers of the first century wore had tough soles, sturdy straps, and sharp studs underneath. Like all of the pieces of armor, they were protective, reminding us that we need to guard all areas of our lives: a soldier with damaged feet cannot fight successfully. Also, the studded sandals provided stability. Many of us have participated in sports that required studded or spiked athletic shoes. I can remember one rainy and muddy state meet where our javelin throwers dominated (even more than usual) because we made sure that they were wearing spikes, whereas most of their competitors were not. We were prepared that day, and each of our athletes had a stable base from which to throw. I Corinthians 16:13 commands, “Stand fast in the faith”; we can, if we are prepared for the battle and stable in our certainty in Christ Jesus.