Breastplate of Righteousness

James 1:6-8

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, “

Ephesians 6:14

Last week we put the belt of truth on and made the conscious decision to wear it proudly every day.  This week we are going to talk about the breastplate of righteousness.

What is righteousness?  Webster’s dictionary defines righteousness as acting in accord with divine or moral law, free from guilt or sin.  While we agree with the definition, we believe that it goes deeper than that.  Righteousness is doing what it right by God’s standards. 

Why did God give us a breastplate of righteousness, why not an arm guard?  God gave us a breastplate of righteousness to protect our vital organs.  In the armor of a Roman soldier, the breastplate served as protection for some of the most important parts of the body.  Underneath the breastplate is the heart, lungs and other organs vital for life.  Therefore, if a soldier did not wear his breastplate, he was vulnerable to an attack that could result in instant death. 

So, why does Paul call it the breastplate of righteousness?  If we do not protect ourselves with righteousness, we open ourselves up to an attack from the enemy and can fall into sin.

Unfortunately, our sinful nature often gets in the way of living an upright life.  When we decide to live based on our own desires rather than God’s, we make decisions that are harmful to others and ourselves.  Romans 8:6 says, “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.  But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”

How do we put on the breastplate of righteousness? 

We can start by being knowledgeable of God’s Word, which will allow us to understand how to live a righteous life.  When trials and temptation come our way, we can make our decisions based on His Word.

In addition, through prayer, we can ask God to empower us to resist living in sin and to do what is right according to Him.  1 John 3:22 says, “And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey and do the things that please him.”

As Christians, we can put on the breastplate of righteousness in our daily lives.  In becoming aware of the decisions we make, we can determine whether or not they are based in God’s Word.  In addition, we can ask Him to give us the strength to live righteously.  Ultimately, this will allow us to withstand attacks from the enemy (satin) and live in ways that glorify Christ.

Now that we have the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness, we have a great foundation for living an amazing life.

Prayer

God we come to you today to thank you for giving us this protection. We know that you didn’t have to give it to us and we are thankful that you chose to help us. Lord we ask that you help us to make righteous decisions throughout our lives. We ask that you protect our heart as we battle the everyday sin that we encounter. We know that in your strength there is nothing that we cannot do. You have the power to raise mountains and calm the raging see. We are so grateful that you live in us. Help us to honor you by living a righteous life. Thank you lord

Amen

Will you pray with us?

Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation

All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel

For all military personal serving our country and their families

Those in Leadership positions throughout the world

Prayer

Lord, today we come to you with HAPPY hearts.  We are so grateful that you give us the opportunity to change the lives of those around us.  We are grateful that you give us the wisdom to change our lives and the lives of those around us.  And you make it so simple. We can do it with a single smile. God today I would ask that you help us to smile more. The next time we see someone down, help us to smile for them. The next time we are down, help us to remember that you gave us the best gift ever. The ability to know you, your son, and the holy spirit. God, we are so grateful for everything you give us.

We ask all these things in your Precious Son's Name

Amen

A Little More

 The other day I got a call from one of our clients.

I love talking to our clients so I always smile when I answer the phone.

“Hey Dan, one of my drivers is pulled over and they are saying that our permit doesn’t cover what we weigh. Isn’t that why we hire your team to make sure that these things don’t happen!”

My smile immediately vanished.

I was shocked because my team is amazing. and it’s not like them to miss something like 20,000 lbs on a permit.

So, I asked him, “Who have you been working with, and who was the one who called our team to get the permit?” 

To get to the bottom of the problem I needed the details.

They gave me the details.

My next call was to my team. Then after I got the details I got them started on getting new permits to get the problem fixed. I’m a solutions guy, not an excuses guy.

But I NEED to know the real reason why it happened so that we can fix the issue.

My next call was to the driver so that I could see exactly what happened.

I knew he was going to be upset. He was pulled over and they were going to give him a HUGE ticket. I wouldn’t be happy either.

so……

I made sure not to smile when I made the call.  I had a serious look on my face. As we chatted I learned that he was the person who gave his weight to our team. I asked where he got the weights from and how in the world they were off by over 20K lbs!

That’s when he told me that he might have gotten the wrong scale ticket from the weigh station where he originally weighed.

Immediately my heart leapt with joy, this is NOT our fault!

Now to get the problem resolved and get this driver back on the road was my only goal.  I was not going to assign blame or make anyone feel bad. 

Hey, we all make mistakes. I do it multiple times every single day.

The owner of the company shot me a text. I'm getting permits from the big guys. They won’t make these mistakes that cost me time and $$$$$.

No problem.  Let me know if you need anything. We are here to help.

Well……..

After they called the “BIG Guys” they called me about 30 minutes later.

Hey, we can’t get an Idaho permit until Monday. It’s Friday night. And we need to drop this load off tomorrow afternoon.

I told him that I would NOT make any promises.

But my team went to work!

Guess what????

We got the permits that the “BIG Guys” couldn’t get.

My team had the Idaho permit in less than 20 minutes. For the right weight this time.

Here’s the point of all this.

When things don’t go right, smile. I have taught my whole team this.

That right there is how we got the permits. They smiled as they worked and it didn’t take any time at all.

Ok, there might be a little knowledge that went into this too. Lol

Next time you need anything DOT, don’t call the “Big Guys” , call the team who can get it done!

Dan Greer