And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:17-20 ESV)
When a fighter enters the ring, what is the most logical part of the body to swing for? The head. They go for headshots because that is where the most damage can be done in the shortest amount of time. Satan attacks us in the same fashion. He goes for our spiritual head; the assurance of our salvation. A helmet protects a soldier’s head in the line of battle, and salvation does the same for the believer. Our salvation was and is secured by Jesus’ shed blood as he stood in our place, making perfect and final atonement for all of our sins (John 19:30; Ephesians 1:7). The Devil attacks our salvation by speaking lies, planting doubt, and bringing condemnation and guilt upon us. We begin to feel or believe that we are too dirty for a perfect God to love, and we need to clean ourselves up before we enter into conversation with him again. This creates a distance between ourselves and God that becomes ever greater.
Essentially, what happens is that we begin believing that our sin has greater power to condemn than Christ has to save, and this is not so! Our salvation was bought not by our works, but through Jesus bearing God’s wrath against our sin. That is the strength of this spiritual helmet, Jesus! Not our works. For we may know there “is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1), and also, “for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21), but do we really believe his Word more than the condemning lies? We stand righteous before a holy God because when he looks at us, he sees Jesus. And what a beautiful sight that is.
Do you protect your head with the helmet of salvation, understanding that Jesus has secured your eternal life?