Ephesians 6:16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

While Ephesians 6 implements many good instructions this one section is about the whole armor of God. The conclusion for that section ends with this statement.

Ephesians 6:19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,

Think about how we got here from where we began yesterday. We began with forbidden acts from Torah and ended up here with preaching the gospel. This journey from point A to point G has occurred because my interests were peaked about the meaning of certain words.

Can every curious investigation lead us to the preaching of the gospel? Probably not but this is not the first time that this has happened to me. There is something comforting about allowing God’s Word to lead us to a conclusion that by repetition compels us to see His will. Some might call such a repetitive conclusion a calling. Maybe it is, but just because I ended up here does not mean this is everyone’s calling.

Your studies, when performed in faith, in seeking God, will lead you where God wants you.

This is how I got here. This is the path of my journey with my Lord. If you should apply your quiet time in a similar manner, it is possible that you might just hear God calling you.

We are similar but not the same. We are individually different parts of the body of Christ with the same head.

1 Corinthians 12:15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

A friend of mine once said “I am the big toe that keeps getting stubbed.”

My reply was “I feel your pain.”

The only two forbidden acts that the Torah specifies are kindling a fire (which means no electricity or cooking on Shabbat) and carrying in the public domain.

This is an excerpt from yesterday’s post concerning Sabbath Law. What struck me was the visual, an act performed in public. The implication might be that a Jew in his own house, away from the public view, might be allowed to carry items without violating Sabbath Law.

I am not trying to legislate Jewish law. I am not a Jewish Lawyer. It is one of those carryover attitudes within our Christian walk of faith that says what we do in public reflects on our Savior since we carry His name.

Doing right to be seen as right is wrong.

Matthew 6:5 And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Doing the right thing just to be seen is called hypocrisy, not by me, by our Lord.

Now I have opened up yet another can of worms. Jesus introduces the word reward. The hypocrites received a reward. Do we obey by faith for a reward? Ouch. That is a personal ouch and not an accusation.

Matthew 6

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,”

Praise was their reward.

Again, we discover yet another excerpt. How can the left hand not know what the right hand is doing?

Here once again we find more and more questions that seem to deserve an answer. One thing that comes to mind about the different actions of the right and left hand is of a right handed warrior. The right hand wields the sword and the left carries a shield.

Ephesians 6:16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;