Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:10-11
I slept in a pair of shorts last night. In a little bit though, I’ll leave for my Saturday morning coffee with the guys. I won’t be sitting there in only my shorts though. That would be weird. Rather, in a few minutes, I’ll put on pants and a sweatshirt before I head out. Like you, it’s just my morning routine – to get out of bed and put on my clothes. I’ve done this every day for as long as I can remember. Not once, can I recall, ever getting up and leaving the house without getting dressed first. If I ever do forget, it will be very unfortunate for everyone involved.
We would never just get out of bed and head off to work or the gym, wearing whatever we wore overnight. That would be absurd – and embarrassing. No matter how late we’ve stayed up the night before and no matter how tired we are, we take the time to put on appropriate clothes before leaving the house. We don’t forget. We don’t get too busy. It’s an essential part of our day for which we always make time.
In the disaster of my drug addiction several years ago, I went to God, telling him that I’d do whatever it took to change. He asked me to take time every morning to point my life at him instead of myself. Since that day, I’ve not missed a morning of meditation and prayer. As soon as my alarm goes off, I wake up and begin praying. It’s just part of my life now and, like getting dressed, I cannot imagine not doing it. It’s not that I’m a spiritual giant. It’s just that I know where a life of following me leads, and I desperately don’t want to go back. So, every morning, I do what it takes to prepare myself for the day that I want to live.
This is what Paul commanded us to do. In today’s passage, he said that to stand strong against the forces of evil, we must continually put on God. Like getting dressed, this isn’t something we do once in our lives. It’s something we must do every day. If we want to experience the lives for which we were made, we must daily choose to take time for God, pointing our lives at him. Unless we want to head out the door naked and unprepared for the day, this is a routine we cannot afford to go without.