submitted by Kerry Patton
“Stand firm
therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put
on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the
preparation of the gospel of peace;”
Ephesians 6:14-15
It isn’t simply about one pair of
shoes…and apparently, it isn’t about BOTH shoes. At least in my case, there is something about
how I tie my right shoe; yes…only the right shoe, that causes my right shoe to
come untied as I go about my day.
At first, I thought it was about a pair
of brown lace up casual dress shoes that I would wear to work every day. “These shoes!” I would grumble to myself, as
I had to stop in the middle of the day ONCE AGAIN, bend down and retie that
same right shoe once again.
My dress shoes at that time were not
lace up, so I hadn’t identified a larger problem. I began to suspect though, when I put on my
tennis shoes and went out to work in the yard.
There it was again…that same right shoe problem.
Months later, I had moved on to
different shoes altogether. All of my
shoes were lace up. BOOM. It hit
me. I was having to re-tie my right shoe
again…no matter WHAT pair of shoes I was wearing. What was it?
Something about the angle I was tying it at? Was I not pulling the knot as tight from that
side as I tied my shoes? I didn’t
know. I still don’t really. But I do know that if I don’t double-knot or
double-tie the laces on that right shoe, in little time, I will be having to
tie it again. So…every morning as I’m
dressing, you’ll catch me giving a single knot to my left shoe, and a double
knot on the right one. True story.
Now, I share this silly bit of truth
about shoes because I want to attach it to a spiritual principle. Had I not decided to do something about my
shoelace problem, and by which I mean to identify it as a weakness in my
walk…in my daily routine, and taken measures to strengthen it up, you would likely
have witnessed me stumbling and tripping frequently on the hanging
laces…Possibly even injuring myself and/or others in the process. Right?
Above, an excerpt from Ephesians
chapter 6 talks about being properly spiritually dressed as a follower of
Jesus. Having “shod” our feet with the
“preparation of the gospel of peace.”
SHOD. Now there’s a word we don’t
use every day… Shod. We say to our
children or grandchildren: “Have you put your shoes on?” Not so much: “Have you shod your feet?” The word shod is described by Strong’s
concordance as: “to bind under.” I love
that!
Effectively: “to tie them
on!” Tie on what? Well, according to
Ephesians 6:15, we are to tie on the gospel of peace. For what? To accomplish
what? To help protect us from the attack
of the evil one. To protect us from the
sharp stones and stumbling blocks of our daily walk. To keep us from stumbling.
Let me…well, tie it all up with a bow
here. I want to encourage you to join me in identifying those patterns, those
habits, those areas of your life where your metaphorical shoe keeps coming
untied. For whatever reason, there is a
place of weakness, of susceptibility there that causes you to keep having to
stop in the middle of your Christian growth and re-tie the laces to your life
again…presumably before you stumble and fall.
Are you with me?
I want you to identify where those
weaknesses are and do what Ephesians 6:15 says: “…Shod your
feet…” to bind
under… to tie on securely, if you will, the gospel of peace for that particular
area of your life. Begin looking for
scriptural passages which may directly address that particular area or areas of
weakness that you and I deal with daily and by dwelling on them; by meditating
on them, by praying those victorious words for our lives, we effectively tie a
double-knot, we double-tie those laces, so that we do not stumble in those
areas anymore.
Oh, hey…if you catch me out and that
right lace has come undone again, or if you see me about to take a
tumble…literally or spiritually, remind me to put a double-tie in that area of
my life. I’ll thank you for it!
Almighty God, ask King David prayed, you know my inward
parts. You know my thoughts and my
deeds. Search me and know my heart. Try me and know my mind. See if there are ways in me that keep me from
following you. Help me to properly bind
up my shoes, to keep me from stumbling as I walk. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
