His feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. He is prepared to walk the path that leads to eternal life.
He has on the breastplate of righteousness. His heart is protected and centered by personal righteousness.
He has on the helmet of salvation. His thought are occupied by salvation or exaltation. He plans his life by keeping his eternal goals always in the forefront.
He has his shield of faith. A Roman sheild was large and effective. A soldier could crouch and protect himself,and his neighbor, from the enemy behind his sheild.
He was armed with the sword of the Spirit and word of revelation. God directed his battle.
His lions are girt with truth. Anciently men wore long robes. When they were getting ready to work or preparing for battle, they would gather the long robes up and tie them around their waist, thus getting ready or manning up as it were. To put on the
armor of god we need to prepare ourselves with the truth. How do we get that? I turned to Alma 5 and noted the great self-evaluation checklist Alma gives us.
Sometimes I find myself hurrying to the "good parts" and I miss some wonderful verses.
He points out two instances where a mighty change of heart happened and how that change lasted for life. Abinadi preached and Alma listened and was changed. And because of that change thousands were impacted.
Alma the younger was one generation removed from that event. As he grew he had chosen a different path. He had equipped himself with riches and prideful arrogance. However he too went through a mighty change and his trajectory adjusted to the gospel path.
He girt his loins and began the life long process of crying repentance.
His words still cry to us, thousands of years later to accept truth and the change it brings.
1 comment:
I love that phrase, "Man up." There's something about it that calls to the best in a man or boy. How I pray that my boys will "man up" as they need to!!
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