The Armored Hull of God
17 Nov 2017Spidey002 "Rambo"
Hey CMDRs!Shepherd Spidey here. My other job (when not in space) is a pastor at my local church.
This morning, as I read my Bible and prayed, the Armor of God from Ephesians 6:12-18 came to mind:
There’s the Belt of Truth,
The Body Armor of Righteousness,
The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace,
The Shield of Faith,
The Helmet of Salvation,
And the Sword of the Spirit (which is the Word of God).
And for some reason, I started thinking about the correlation with an ideal ship in Elite Dangerous. (Blasphemy? I hope not!)
The most obvious connection is the shields. In ED, our shields are our first defense against attacks from an enemy (or just our own clumsiness in landing—I speak for myself). In God’s armor, the Shield of Faith protects us from all the attacks of our enemy. Evil thoughts, discouragement, depression, temptation, all of these can be deflected by our faith. But how strong are your shields? A weak 1E shield will collapse after a few hits, while a 5A will take on a barrage and still hold.
Next I thought about the Body Armor of Righteousness. This made me think of the hull. If the shields collapse, the only thing between you and vaccuum of space is your hull. And it doesn’t matter how strong the rest of your systems are, when your hull integrity is down, you better haul it to a spaceport!
In the same way, our integrity protects our lives—our character, who we are when no one but God is watching. And our integrity better be reinforced by some grade A armor—accountability to other men or women with whom we can be totally honest.
Next I thought about our only weapon in the Armor of God: the Sword of the Spirit. This is the Word of God (the Bible). On a starship, you need some good hard points to fend off hungry pirates. Our only weapon against the forces of darkness is God’s Word. The more Scripture you know by heart, and the better you understand it, the more powerful your offensive will be.
For the Shoes of the Gospel of Peace, I thought of our thrusters or our FSD. Our thrusters help us maneuver in tight situations, and our FSD gets us where we need to go. In the same way, if we know the Good News (or “Gospel”) of Jesus, we must be prepared to share it whenever, wherever, and with whomever we meet.
The Helmet of Salvation was a little trickier. Ultimately, I decided on our scanners and sensors. Good sensors tell you what’s out there, and whether it’s friendly or dangerous. The Helmet of Salvation protects our minds, and keeps our thoughts focused on what will matter for eternity.
And the Belt of Truth. In a suit of armor, the belt is foundational; it holds every thing together, keeps your weapon strapped on tight, and makes you ready for battle. On a good starship, you need a decent power plant. Otherwise, you could find yourself in the middle of a battle and run out of power, then NOTHING works! In the same way, truth is foundational to our lives; knowing the truth about ourselves, believing the truth about God, and speaking only the truth to others.
Those are my morning thoughts. I even sketched it in my journal (pardon my lack of artistic skill).
I hope this was helpful. I love making spiritual connections with EVERYTHING I do.
This is Shepherd Spidey signing off.
