Breastplate of Righteousness

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Eph 6:10-18

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

NIV

Now that we are strong in the Lord and in his mighty power and we have put on the full armor of God so we can stand our ground and we have seen how the belt of truth is so essential, the next piece of armor is the breastplate of righteousness. How can we stand up against the attacks of the devil without righteousness protecting us? The opposite of righteousness is, of course, unrighteousness, which defines who and what the devil is. Now the problem is that we do not have any righteousness of our own. As we stand alone in our humanity, we are, in fact, unrighteous. Paul makes it clear in his letter to the Romans that no one is righteous, not even one, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But there is a righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our righteousness. He is our breastplate. He guards our heart and our other vital parts, our lungs, which have the very breathe of God within them. The breastplate, Jesus, is essential to our being able to take our stand against the schemes of the devil. When we are faced with one of his attacks, when he strikes a blow against our heart, the breastplate takes the blow, and our heart remains intact. We could never get up in the morning, shower and make ourselves ready for the day and leave for work without first putting on our clothes. Who would go off to work naked? When then could we ever expect to stand our ground against the schemes of the devil, naked? We need the truth belted around us, Jesus, and we need the breastplate of righteousness, Jesus, firmly in place. Of course there are other parts of this armor of God, which we will get to, but for now, let us put on the truth and the breastplate and stand our ground. When we are clothed with Jesus, we have right standing before God, we have his righteousness.