Righteousness?

 Righteousness? 

Ephesians 6:12-14 

'For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.' 

The Noah Webster 1828 dictionary says:

Righteousness: 

1. Purity of heart and rectitude of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law. 
2. The active and passive obedience of Christ    

    The above three verses are very familiar to most of us, they make up the first part of the armor of God which most of us have known since attending VBS as children, they are very familiar to us. I recently was part of a Bible study, during which the armor of God was the main thought as we studied each piece of armor and its implications and uses in the Christian life. It was a very insightful study and one which I would recommend you study out for yourself! 

    As we went through, the only piece of armor I struggled to get a good grasp on, was the one I have always struggled to tangibly understand, the breastplate of righteousness. It has just never clicked for me, I never really could get a good grasp on what it was talking about. However, last night, sitting in church, it clicked, and the Holy Spirit gave me some insight as to what purpose the breastplate of righteousness serves. 

    We know the purpose of a breastplate is to protect the heart and lungs, to protect these, vital life-giving organs from the enemy's attacks. That is the purpose of righteousness, or purity, to protect our heart.  

The Bible says in Proverbs 4:23: 

      'Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.' 

And in Matt. 15:16-17a

'But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts... '

    We read throughout the Bible how our heart is wicked and 'who can know it?'. We understand that we are to keep our heart, we know that God commands it, and yet, at least for me, this abstract concept was always one I struggled to make tangible. Keep my heart? What does that mean? I've heard the lessons on guarding my heart, I've heard the lessons talking about watching your influences, and all of those lessons are correct, we must protect it, we must be vigilant about what we allow to influence and affect us, but what does it mean to guard our heart? Well, I think Ephesians holds another part of the answer. Righteous living protects our hearts. The Bible says in Pr. 16:3 

'Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established.' 

    When we are actively choosing to do right, actively deciding to do what God wants us to do, our thoughts and emotions will be directed and established by God. It's the same principle of, 'Do right, and your emotions will catch up.' 

    So in summary, yes, we guard our hearts by thinking on purpose with purpose, but also we guard our hearts by actively choosing to do right, no matter the cost, knowing that God will bring order to our minds and to our hearts. 

Friend, this is all quite easy to write, and much harder to live and I know that. I pray that as you read this if you are struggling in this area, you find some encouragement in knowing that God's got this! He is the one who got you to where you are, and He is the one who will continue to see you through! 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and keep up with me! 

-Beca