Armadillo

ByHal Hammons

Finding a dead armadillo on the side of the road is about like finding bad salsa in Florida — unfortunate, objectionable, but hardly worth extensive comment.  However, the one I saw this week was (as far as I could tell at 40 miles per hour) unmarked.  It just lay there on the shoulder of the road, four legs reaching to the sky.

This posture reveals the defensive shortcomings of this particular example of God’s creativity. The tough exterior along the armadillo’s top side allows it to curl into a ball, making it virtually impossible for a predator to successfully attack. Unless the predator has a few hundred horses under the hood, that is.

The armadillo does not need better protection.  It needs to properly use the protection God gave it.

God did not design armadillos to do battle with pickup trucks.  He did, however, design Christians to do battle with the devil.  And the armor He provides us (Ephesians 6:13-17) is adequate for the task.  But we must use it properly.

If we do not don salvation’s helmet by being baptized (Acts 2:38), we cannot survive.  If we shun truth and righteousness, we will succumb to “the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).  If we are not adept at defending ourselves with the sword of the Spirit, we will lose our war with sin (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).

Remember how vulnerable we were to sin before we knew Jesus.  That is exactly how vulnerable we will be if we do not clothe ourselves with him now. 

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The nature of the “war” will explain the quotation marks. 

 

Delete

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American workers, always with the go-go-go mentality, tend to view this approach with disdain.  It’s lazy.  It’s wasteful.  The only proper way to work is full throttle, full time.  On a related note, American workers suffer greatly from depression, stress, high blood pressure, and divorce.  A connection, perhaps?

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