I don’t know about you, but when I think of Paul, I don’t think “timid.” Yet he is trying here to be gentle and kind like Christ. That, to me, speaks volumes to us as well. Kindness and Gentleness are two of our secret weapons. Have you ever heard it said, “Kill them with kindness”? Selena Gomez has a song entitled “Kill ‘em With Kindness” and one of the lyrics says, “We don’t have to fall from grace. Put down the weapons you fight with.” When we lead with kindness, good things can happen.
Paul sees this as powerful as well. Afterall, Jesus never led with might and weapons of war. Why should we? But like a shepherd protects his flock, Paul wants to protect his people (us) from the lies of the world. Paul reminds us, “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do.” What does that mean? Think of war. Guns. Bombs. Death. Why?
Whether we can see it or not, there is a war going on all around us. The war between good and evil. As humans, we often don’t see or recognize the evil because it is crafty and can often camouflage itself to look holy. That’s why it is so dangerous. That’s why Paul is so passionate about helping us by equipping us with the right weapons. The wrong weapons used to get people’s attention would include things like manipulation, peer pressure, arguments, compromises, conflicts like war, boycotts, threats, etc.
I was reading an article about this text, and examples of the deceptions around us include Mormonism, the Hare Krishna movement, Scientologists, to name a few. Then there are many who are, perhaps, unquestionably evangelical, and yet they are teaching legalism, spiritual elitism, or pushing some special experience as a shortcut to spiritual power. All of these groups, whether they know it or not, are being used by the evil one to deceive and derail us from our walk with Jesus. We need to be secure in our own faith, our own belief in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
God’s mighty weapons, in addition to kindness and gentleness, might be something like knowledge and truth. These are revealed to us when we spend time in God’s Word. The Word of God is truth, powerful, living and active. It can act like a sword to cut through the lies of the evil one. We need to be more careful than ever because even Christians can be deceived by the evil one to try and get us off course.
We need to be ready to “destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.” We have been equipped with weapons; we just need to know when to use them. Our superpower, the Holy Spirit, can help us in that regard. We are blessed to have an insight that others do not have. We first need to stay strong ourselves so we can be of service to others.
One fierce weapon that comes to mind is love. When we can treat others courteously and with respect, we can be a lot more successful in our attempts to teach them to obey Christ. There are a lot of people that don’t have true love in their life. What a blessing we can be when we introduce them to Jesus and his unfailing, love-you-no-matter-what kind of love.
What other weapons do you see we have been given to fight the good fight? Peace. Mercy. Grace. Humility. We can use all of these secret weapons to make the world a better place.
Let’s pray … Lord, I come to you today humbled by your love for us. Help me discern the truth in the messages that bombard me every day. May I help others to see your truth and recognize their need for you. Protect my heart from deception. May I shine for you and be kind to others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
