Put on the Whole Armor of God

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11). Sometimes we might feel that it is not necessary to put on the whole armor of God. Sure, some parts make sense. If we take a lot of blows to the head, then of course we are going to put on the Helmet. And if we’ve taken a lot of hits to the heart, then we’ll make sure we’ve always got our breastplate on. But putting on the armor of God piecemeal to address specific attacks is missing the point. The whole armor of God is greater than the sum of its parts. Righteousness, peace, faith, truth - these all reinforce and feed off of each other. Missing out on even a single piece not only leaves that particular part of us vulnerable to attack, but it robs us of the strength and power and protection that comes from the whole armor of God - specifically, it’s wholeness and completeness. We might rationalize that if we read our scriptures and go to church and the temple but we skip out on family home evening, or fast offerings, then we’ll still be more or less OK. The young rich man who spoke with Jesus told Him that he was already wearing like ninety-five percent of the armor of God. But Christ told Him he didn’t have the whole armor of God on yet. He was missing one piece and that one piece kept him from being whole. Putting on the whole armor of God means committing to being whole and complete, lacking nothing.