Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. - Ephesians 6v13
When is this evil day Paul speaks of? We might be tempted to say that today is the most evil of days, and to an extent there may be some Bible support for that as “evil men and seducers wax worse and worse as we see the day approaching.”
And yet, the 21st century has no monopoly on evil. It only takes a cursory look at history to know that evil has been here all along. Only 150 years ago western nations held fellow humans as chattel. Children were forced into slave-like conditions as they worked 14-16 hours a day in sweatshops. Barbarity and cruelty are part of man’s heritage. We think we have progressed beyond that. Perhaps that is why it is such a shock when news comes out. We also live in a time when very little goes undisclosed.
No matter what, we do live in an evil day. What do we do about it? How have those brave souls who have gone before us survive in the midst of opposition, persecution, torture, and martyrdom? How do we handle the present evil and how will we handle it if we are called on to face the struggles they faced.
We put on the whole armour of God. It is described piece by piece in the following verses. Unless we learn the importance of wearing His armour we stand naked in the battle against “… the wiles of the devil….principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” in this evil day.
God provides us with battle for the armour. We will choose to wear it?
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