The football team charges onto the field, bulky with padding. Cleats churn up the sod as the crowd cheers. Their jerseys sport the team logo. Equipment is top of the line except for one thing: they wear no helmets!
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Every mother in the stands rises in horror because everyone knows what one blow to the head can do. I am very aware of the damage one well-placed blow can do, as my daughter Susie has lived every day for the past 9 years dealing with that damage. And it could have been worse. (See Saving Susie)
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Brain damage is devastating because that little hunk of grey matter under the hair is the control center for the whole body. If something is wrong in there, nothing else works right.
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...And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION...Eph.6.
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Paul calls attention to that critical battle front, the mind, when he instructs us to wear our "helmet of salvation." Without the certainty of God's salvation giving us strength, our minds are susceptible to every deceitful thought that floats by. Every worldly philosophy, every feel-good ideology, every vain impulse or man made theology can sound wonderfully reasonable without that helmet.
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It is in the mind that action begins. With the mind, we believe or reject. And unless we protect our minds, renew our minds, restore our minds continually with the truth of salvation by Jesus alone, we are easy prey for any one of Satan's glittery counterfeits.
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Paul calls attention to that critical battle front, the mind, when he instructs us to wear our "helmet of salvation." Without the certainty of God's salvation giving us strength, our minds are susceptible to every deceitful thought that floats by. Every worldly philosophy, every feel-good ideology, every vain impulse or man made theology can sound wonderfully reasonable without that helmet.
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It is in the mind that action begins. With the mind, we believe or reject. And unless we protect our minds, renew our minds, restore our minds continually with the truth of salvation by Jesus alone, we are easy prey for any one of Satan's glittery counterfeits.
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But how many of us work to actively protect our minds? Satan convinces us that we are so brilliant, so enlightened, so discerning that we can continually expose ourselves to lies, evil, and ungodly speculation and it won't affect us at all. That makes as much sense as a football player heading into a game without a helmet, assuming that because he is such a good player, he cannot be injured.
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We parents wouldn't dream of sending our kids into a tackle football game without proper gear, yet we rarely take such pains to protect their minds from attack. What are they watching? What are they listening to? Who are they emulating? Who are their heroes?
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How about you? Adults are not exempt from head injury either. What are you watching and listening to. Who do you admire? Are you wearing your helmet at all times or have you bought the lie that you don't need it? Do you allow speculation to hang around in the hinterlands of your mind, unanswered questions becoming a roadblock to spiritual growth?
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You wouldn't go to war or into a football game without a strong helmet. Your life is a battlefront and you need your helmet there, too. Don't go into war without it.
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