The Need of the Christian’s Armor.
By A. M. Lindsley
WHATEVER efforts we may put forth in our own strength toward gaining eternal life will be utterly futile. We shall find that in striving to establish our own righteousness, we never made a more fatal mistake. There is no other way into the fold but by the door, and that door is Christ. We are called to follow his example. This, or that, or the other, may seem to us for the time to be the very way for us to travel; unconsciously, we may choose one of the by-paths that lead us into the territory of the prince of darkness where we may be taken captive, never again to see the light of day. The Christian is surrounded by unseen agencies as dark as hell itself, from which he can only be protected by answer to earnest prayer to the great Head of the church, who overcame once for all. The way for our escape has been plainly laid open; overcoming grace is promised. To follow in his footsteps is the only sure way of reaching the end he has reached. His, was a life of self-denial and suffering. Shall we expect to be carried to Heaven short of the same baptism? Christian fortitude is called for to successfully breast the waves of opposition and trial that beset us at every step of our progress, and he who now in this degenerate age presses on to the final goal must prove himself an adept in outwitting the enemy of his soul’s salvation. A faithful study of the chart given to guide us on Time’s ocean is of the utmost importance to a knowledge of our whereabouts, and we are to give the most earnest heed to the things we have heard, especially as we near the end, lest we let them slip, and these way-marks prove unavailing in our case. Sometimes, we are as hardly pressed as was Bunyan’s “Pilgrim” in the valley of humiliation, in his conflict with Apollyon, and only by dint of the means he used shall we prevail. Satan and his host will never yield the field only to a higher power. How necessary then that we are clothed with the whole armor of God according to the exhortation of Paul in Eph. 6: 13–18. He enumerates the different parts of the armor, and says, “Above all taking the shield of faith.” Faith seems to be the most important part of the armor; for in our conflicts with the enemy, he knows if he can succeed in weakening our confidence in God, his promises, or his work, he has taken away our defense, and we are left open to all his fiery darts, but with this we shall be able to cope with him and all his legions, for greater is He that is for us than all they that be against us. The Lord has seen fit to bring us into strait places at times, where we are tempted and tried, and brought at times to the last extremity to prove us and see whether we will have faith in our Leader, always looking to him as the author and finisher of our faith. So looking to him, he will prove himself fully able to succor all who are thus tempted. Says the prophet, to him “that walketh in darkness and hath no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.” When darkness prevails to that extent that not a single step before us seems plain, then only one resource is left us, which is, to still trust in the name of the Lord. In his own time he will bring us deliverance. Oh, for mighty faith! “Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,
And looks to that alone,
Laughs at impossibilities,
And cries, It shall be done!”
A. M. LINDSLEY.