Ephesians 6:17
A cold, unconcerned and indifferent to you, from across the battlefield eyes stare at you. You are nothing to them but something they owned once. We all belonged to this world, our allegiance was to this world. From their perspective, we are the rebels. They stare at you and see only a traitor, one that abandoned their kingdom. You were taken captive and so easily turned to a new King (Psalm 68:18). You turned too quickly — they want back what was once theirs. You dare to stand on their territory. They know that you slip up, they know your flesh still tempts you into sin. They know your weaknesses and fears. From across the scarred, war-torn battlefield, your former owners command forces against you and your Lord.
The Lord saved us from the way of this world. The empty and cold, running after the indulgence of the flesh. The independent-from-God way of life is utterly empty. Exhilarating at first, but this life is an endless chasing after the first joy that the flesh gave. We always have to increase the intensity. Even that coffee that was once the best you have ever tasted turns into mundane normality. Ultimately, everything threatens to turn into a bland blur. Maybe it will take many years to reach this bland state. We do see the satisfaction slowly decrease in that direction. Always chasing something, ever becoming hungry again for something more. Your mind can slowly revert, as the cold stares from across the field remind you of your time in the kingdom of darkness. But you yearn to stay — not gritting your teeth against the pull back, but genuinely unwilling to return. This is your new nature speaking, the mark of what Christ has already done in you. He holds you here; His loving character is now your own. Your hope rests not in your own grip on Him, but in His grip on you.
Christ burst onto the scene and ripped us out of this state. This sinful, rebellious state — where we walked in sin. We were caught in the torrents of this world’s rulers (Ephesians 2:1-2). This same kingdom is still very active and working hard to grow its citizens into the very state we were saved from. But it is not just this. We were not merely saved from this kingdom of darkness. We were taken into the kingdom of light, ruled by Christ. We see even more that we have been gifted varying degrees of grace in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 4:7). We see in Ephesians 4:11-13 that the church is being equipped and built up into something more. We are being formed into citizens with the character of this new kingdom. We are saved from the ways of darkness and equipped to live out the ways of the light. Salvation is much more than just no longer being in the kingdom of darkness.
We see in the first part of verse 17, chapter 6 of Ephesians, that we have to take up the helmet of salvation. We now receive from Christ His salvation, where He is our salvation. This is the very helmet that we place on our heads. It is this helmet that will guard us. Giving Christ the honour. Our hope is well placed in His salvation (1 Thessalonians 5:8). Our God also took up the helmet of salvation (Isaiah 59:17). Lean on the salvation that is found in substance, with Christ. He saved us from the darkness and brought us into the light — the very territory that He took and left us to stand on. He equipped us to stand firmly, providing once again, by His own work, salvation that we can use as a helmet.
Therefore, we can rest assured in the salvation provided by Jesus Christ. When the enemy’s cold stare focuses on you, know this: He saved you out of their kingdom. Even more — you were once a citizen of their kingdom, embodying sin and rebellion against God. No longer. You are now a citizen of the kingdom of light. You are saved into much more than you were saved from. This salvation, rooted in the hope of Christ, helps protect you against the onslaught of the enemy. He is our hope, we can trust in Him. He will not leave us behind. Stand and hold the ground, stand firm, for He provided.