Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. —Ephesians 6:14-15
Do you find it curious that while preparing for battle, we are told to “put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace”? What sort of readiness is that? Are not peace and battle contradictory?
It is important to remember what and who we are fighting. There can be no peace with the enemy of our faith and the enemy of our God. The “spiritual forces of evil” referenced in Ephesians 6:12 are powerful and wicked and persistent.
But God also makes it clear that this enemy has been defeated!
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:56-57).
Thankfully, the peace referenced in Ephesians 6:15 is peace with the one who gives the victory. God is intentionally allying himself with us in this battle, which ensures that we can, in fact, stand.
Think how strange that alliance is. We are entirely sinful, full of pride, unholy, unrighteous and ungodly. Our natural allegiance is with the devil.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. . . (Ephesians 2:4-5)
God himself initiates a relationship with us, grants us peace with him through the blood of Jesus, and then equips us to stand. Let us, with joy, prepare ourselves for the victory granted by Jesus Christ!