Breastplate of Righteousness

The Breastplate is the next piece of armor I will talk about. It allows us to walk boldly in the battlefield to fight. Having the Breastplate protects the main part of our body. Our torso consists of the muscles, vital organs, as well as the heart. Losing any of these parts would be life threatening.

I looked up the word for righteousness, and the definition was this : To be without sin; guiltless.

I thought about that, and after some research, I realized that there were two different types of righteousness. The first type was given to us from Jesus, and the second type is Jesus working in and with us.

Romans 4:6-7 says ," Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: Blessed [are those] whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered."

The Bible says that God gave us righteousness, even though we didn't do anything to deserve it. How cool is that?

The next kind of righteousness is the process of God working through us.

Jeremiah 31:33-34 says ,"But this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

God put His law into our minds and wrote it in our hearts. He gave part of Himself to us, so we could call upon His name and He would willingly come into our life and change us.

Before this lesson ends, I want to give you something to scratch your heads while you go about your day. You understand that the Breastplate is for the front part of the body, right? The purpose of the Breastplate was not to protect your back, but for the front.

What I'm trying to say here is that we are not supposed to turn our exposed "back" to the enemy, for he will attack our unarmored area. We are called to keep ourselves facing the enemy. Only if we run, will we be in true danger.

To put on the Breastplate of Righteousness, we must keep ourselves from sin at all costs. If we fall, though, we don't walk away. Instead we ask for forgiveness and keep fighting.

Try to find a time in your day to read Romans 8:1-11, and you will have a better understanding about God's righteousness.

Have a blessed week, and put on the Breastplate of Righteousness. Amen.