"Bad Knight, Good Knight"

A group of children used their imaginations to brainstorm about something they could draw on their blank piece of white paper. A boy came up to my desk and asked if he could show me his drawing. He drew a knight with full armor and weapons in hand. I explained, “I really like this drawing, but I will have to ask you to take away his weapons because it is against the rules to draw them.” He understood and came back with a new drawing. He drew another knight with armor, but this time he had no weapons. Instead, he wrote the word “knowledge” at the top of the page. The boy told me that this was his weapon. He said, “This is a good knight.”

After seeing this knight dressed in armor, I could not help but think of the armor of God that we are called to put on as believers in Christ. Ephesians 6 tells us, “Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (v. 13-18).”

I think it is easy for us to use the illustration of the armor as a way to automatically cover ourselves up. We may fall into a trap if we focus just on the armor and feel we must be strong and brave at all times. I have gathered that focusing on what we want to cover up is just as important as the parts we use to cover them.

It is when we recognize our weakness that we can believe that there is something far greater that can strengthen us. When we are broken, we are longed to be mended. Paul provides a fitting example in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (v. 9-10).”

If we are too quick to put on the armor without even recognizing why we need it, we may find ourselves pretending. I feel God wants us to recognize that we are nothing apart from Christ. It is then, that each piece of armor will make sense. We will know that we are replacing our weakness with something stronger.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).”