D E F E N S E

I pulled this picture off the Catch it Kansas website. It made me think of Ephesians 6 and the armor of God.


Whitney is a defensive player on the volleyball team. Her position is defensive specialist. She plays defense behind the top hitter in the Wichita city league. Crystal has been described as "wood splintering". Whitney follows her to the net for hits and blocks to cover the dink, and backs up to take the other teams hits to make a pass so the ball can be set up for Crystal to pound. Crystal is amazing. So is Whitney. She leads the team in passing percentage. Her passes are right on the money 9 out of 10 times. Whitney has one offensive move. Her jump floater serve. And she nails it.

Whitney lives for digging the ball. Taking the "ace" away from the server. Getting under the well hit ball and putting it in the air for the set and the hit. Her wood burns and bruises are legendary on her teams. Skin scraping the floor. Elbows torn out of jerseys. Knee pads with chunks taken out of them. She loves the thrill of diving away from the ball, swinging with one arm and landing the pass right on top of Laura. Defense. It's her spot.

Ephesians 6:10-18
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people

There are all the pieces of armor for defense. Head to toe. So necessary. I need to remember to clothe myself with them every morning.

There are two offensive weapons in our aresnal. The Bible, called "the sword of the Spirit" and praying always. Not really attack moves, are they.

The reason this hit me when I looked at this picture was because I sometimes think I need to do the Lord's work. Go on the offense. And I don't mean in a good way, as in feeding the poor or volunteering at church. I mean as in pointing out faults and flaws. Telling people how wrong they are. Making sure they know how wretched they are. This is not what God has given me to do. Mine is to love. And for me, one more thing I have to keep in mind, love unselfishly. Love where the need is, not what is easy and convenient for me. Not love MY way, but let Jesus love shine through me.

I don't need to go out and splinter wood with my hard hits. The Holy Spirit will take care of that. I need to lovingly play defense and protect and encourage.

I'm gonna need a new sweatband!