“Equipped for battle”.

Galatians 5:15 (ESV)
“But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”

One of our sons wanted an armor of God play set for Christmas. As parents we knew we must purchase two of these items - one for each son. When we gave the armor play set to our boys, much to our surprise they began to assault one another! We had envisioned them playing side-by-side, focusing their offense toward some fictional “enemy”. We believed that these “gifts” would unify our boys in their playtime. Somehow it escaped us that these “gifts” would be the tools by which our sons would assault one another.

The thought came to me that even adult believers act similarly. We equip ourselves with God’s armor and proceed to attack one another; forgetting that we all serve in the same army. The armor of God is for protection from the enemy of our souls and for offensive measures toward the kingdom of darkness. when it comes to believer to believer interaction we should lay our “swords” down and look for ways to repair the “chinks” in one another’s armor instead of exploiting ones weaknesses for our own gains.

We must remember that we are equipped with spiritual armor to protect and unify us. In the manner of military allies; we may have differing backgrounds and cultures, yet as Christians in God’s army we fight side by side for one kingdom.

Luther.