“And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,” Ephesians 6:15.
There is wonderful logic in moving from the breastplate of righteousness to the footwear of the Christian soldier. We considered how that the the donning of the breastplate of righteousness means the outworking of our being “born again”. It is the very motions and activities, the heartbeat of the new nature. Certain evidences may be detected in the life of the one whose heart is so enclosed and protected.
1. Their attitude toward sin.
Shunned -- I Thess 5:22, Jude 23.
Slain -- Rom 8:13, Col 3:5.
Withstood -- Ps 139:21-22.
We are not as Gallio, who cared for none of these things.
2. Their attitude toward the world.
I Pet 1:15. We live as Christians in all matters. We are not greedy of this world’s goods, I Tim 6:8.
3. Their Attitude toward God.
He comes first. The heart guarded by holiness is warm and welcoming, Ps 39:3, John 14:23. Christ is a stranger in this world. Christian, make sure He is welcome with you. Do not leave Him on the church step and go home without Him following this meeting. Over all, the walk of the person wearing the breastplate is distinct and separated. Thus we come to the subject of the Christian’s feet.
Nothing seems more appropriate than to link a call to stand with an exhortation to don the right footwear. The soldiers footwear is considered by him as a most important item of equipment. While he is not constantly fighting and using his other items of equipment, he is constantly wearing his boots. If they are not comfortable then their fighting potential is greatly diminished. During the Falklands’ war, within days of landing, soldiers were unfit for battle due to an outbreak of trenchfoot. It is a form of frostbite that results from standing in cold water for long periods. With all the advances in warfare, it is still beyond man’s power to devise a boot that will keep out the cold and water.
A favourite means of seeking to escape national service when it was in operation was to claim you had flat feet. A soldier with poor feet was no use as a fighting man. Christian soldiers have boots which they may wear that will enable them to march and fight in the harshest of environments in comfort.
The experience of Israel on the march may be ours. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years, Deut 8:4. Spiritually we may remain nimble footed, Isaiah 46:4. “And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in,” Joshua 14:10-11.Consider our spiritual shoes.