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Breastplate of Righteousness
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"Stand therefore having your loins girt
about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness."--- Ephesians 6:14
"For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation
upon his head." --- Isaiah 59:17
"But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate
of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."
---
I Thessalonians 5:8
The Bottom Line
Whenever the enemy tries to bring up your past to accuse you, the breastplate of righteousness is your trusty defense. If the Spirit of Christ dwells in you, then God receives you as His son or daughter no matter what the devil says. "For he
[God] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (II Corinthians 5:21). The righteousness of Christ in you is what matters — not your shortcomings and failures.
This does not mean that your heavenly Father is indifferent to your sin or regards it lightly. Rather, as a loving father corrects his child, so the Lord corrects you (see Hebrews 12:5-11). At times His chastening may seem stern and unfair, but He is working to mold you into the likeness of Christ. He desires that "the peaceable fruit of righteousness" (Hebrews 12:11) be produced in your life.
In Isaiah 59, the Lord put on righteousness as a breastplate and went out to fight evil and corruption. "And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke" (Isaiah 59:16-17).
The Lord shares His righteousness with His children, for they, too, must encounter evil and corruption. The world we live in is full of sin and spiritual darkness. People all around us are in desperate need of the light and life of Jesus Christ. Therefore, "let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation" (I Thessalonians 5:8). We are to let the light of Christ shine to those around us and follow the Lord's leading in doing "good works" (see Matthew 5:16; Ephesians 2:10; Titus 2:14). Such works may involve standing firm against injustice (Leviticus 19:15), meeting the needs of the poor and fatherless (Psalm 82:3-4), and defending the helpless (Proverbs 31:8-9). These are all practical manifestations of the Lord's righteousness.
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This teaching was written by David Holt Boshart, Jr.
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