“The Sword”

   I suppose it’s a guy thing…

   Yesterday, I found my old pocket knife in the back of a drawer.  I thought it long lost, and I suppose it was (if you saw the drawer, you’d understand).  It felt really good to open the blades, sharpen them, snap them shut, and deposit my trusty sword where it belongs.  In my pocket.  There’s just something so right about having such a tool close at hand.  I can’t recall how many times in the last few years I’ve needed a knife for some task.  String that required cutting.  A box to be opened.  A stick that needed to be whittled.  A pocketknife to be felt in the pocket when you’re reaching for your keys.  You know, the very necessities of life.

  I suspect you know where I’m going with this.

   “Take… the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God... Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee” (Ephesians 6:17; Psalm 119:12).

     The Christian life involves bearing and wielding a weapon - the Word of God - whereby we overcome the attacks of the world, the flesh, and the devil.  As the Lord Jesus Christ Himself practiced in the wilderness temptation, we remember, believe, and affirm the truth of Scripture.  Thereby we counter falsehoods our enemies tempt us to believe.  Note also that our Savior specifically applied passages from Deuteronomy that specifically applied to the challenges He faced (Matthew 4:1-11).  We must do the same in order to face our own challenges.  Thus, we cannot leave our sword in a drawer, as it were.  It must be carried, remembered, and utilized in order to overcome temptation.

   My pocketknife reminds me of such things, and thus serves far greater purposes than its normal functions of cutting, whittling, and providing pocket weight (again, it’s a guy thing).  I’m grateful, and hope to remember a far greater and more necessary Sword that serves far greater and more necessary purposes…

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

(Hebrews 4:12)

Weekly Memory Verse

    Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.

(Romans 12:19)