Confident Assurance…
The clearest Biblical definition of the helmet of salvation is found here: “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober…putting on…the hope of salvation as a helmet.” 1 Thes. 5:5,6,8 There is a wide range of meaning to “salvation”, which includes being rescued from the consequences of sin. It also carries the meaning of an endowment or a gift, with an eternal future expectation. Staying strong in the midst of a dark world mandates that I carry a confident assurance of my identity in Christ.
Discernment…
Perhaps the most common application of what the helmet of salvation is, relates to how we protect our mind. If you’re like me, you hear voices in your mind all day long. Some are clearly dark and we know to renounce such thoughts. Others, we’re not sure about. Then there is the rock solid truth of God’s Word, which we know to meditate upon as much as possible. Wearing the helmet of salvation is staying alert and watchful, walking in discernment. There are two aspects to discernment, one being a gift and the other a skill.
Spiritual illumination can drop into our minds, a godly parachute of thoughts that seemingly appear on our conscious horizon. This is the gifting of discernment, a manifestation of Holy Spirit. After all, He IS the teacher. Jn. 14:26 I may not even be asking for the power to discern a particular situation, when the doorbell in my mind rings, and I am delivered a gift of insight. More often though, discernment as a skill is the bulwark on which I rely to filter out deception and lies from my thinking.
Growing Up…
“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish (discern) good from evil.” Heb. 5:11-14 Skills are acquired over time through habit.
Every marriage in my opinion, is destined one day to mentor other marriages. Perhaps not officially, as in a teaching or counseling capacity, but simply “meat” (solid food) coming alongside of “milk.” Demonstrating maturity, through lifestyle, attitude, and actions over years of covenant relationship, that’s the end game. We will only arrive at that place, helmet-clad.
Choose Your Focus…
Putting on the helmet of salvation is a very deliberate and disciplined action on our part. Those voices that we hear every day, often arise out of events that take place in our home, church, or workplace. We feel a corresponding emotion, some days a ripple of a wave on the shore, other days more like a tsunami. In between the event and emotion, there is an interpretation of the event. We very rapidly think and process in our minds, thus the need for constant discernment and protection.
A marriage will blossom from the soil of its focus. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Phil. 4:8-9
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