Helmets protect our heads. There are helmets to protect small skulls as they learn to ride bicycles. There are helmets that have been crafted with cutting-edge technology to reduce concussions for those involved in high-contact sports. They are worn at job sites, and on occasion, by military and police personnel.
Well-fitting helmets, when worn properly, protect our heads but more precisely, protect what’s inside them: our minds.
So it stands to reason the helmet of salvation, included in the armor of God found in Ephesians 6, would protect our minds. But what do our minds need protection from?
Catastrophic Blows
The helmets Paul might have had in mind as he wrote this letter to the Ephesians were probably those worn by soldiers. The goal was to reduce damage done by some pretty heavy-duty weaponry designed to bludgeon and pierce. Note that the helmet could not prevent the hits from coming. This means salvation won’t prevent suffering and trials; if you’ve been a Christian for more than a minute, you know this well. But what the helmet of salvation will do is protect your thoughts from doubts, lies, confusion, and other schemes of the Enemy.
The helmet of salvation not only delivers us in the daily skirmishes we face. In a very real sense, our salvation will save us eternally. When we have battled our last, the war has already been won for us by another, and we join Him for eternity.
But how do we ensure we have a well-fitting, properly-worn helmet of salvation working to protect our minds from those catastrophic blows?
Know Who Has the Authority to Save
In order for salvation to guard our minds, we must know from whom our deliverance comes from. Psalm 98:2 says, “The LORD has made known his salvation.” Redemption belongs wholly to the Lord and you can bet that He is going to take credit for it. He has declared it resoundingly through millennia, first by whispering his rescue plan to Adam and Eve upon their exit out of the garden (Gen. 3:15). Then He showed what physical salvation looked like by rescuing His people out of Egypt and providing for them through the desert. He has even used people as instruments to declare His deliverance as in the case of John the Baptist who would, “give knowledge of salvation to [God’s] people” (Luke 1:77).
Know How Jesus Saved Us
Without question, God’s ultimate salvation for us came through His Son, Jesus Christ. His sinless life sacrificed willingly on our behalf to die the death we deserve enables us to enjoy a life eternally with God. Hebrews 2:14b–15 says, “…that through death [Jesus Christ] might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” Because of Jesus we are alive and free! There are also no other avenues to this freeing redemption: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Know Why This Matters
First Thessalonians 5:8 tells us to, “put on…for a helmet the hope of salvation.” There is hope and assurance in our redemption. If our salvation was up to us, we’d be dead in the water. Even our most righteous deeds “are like filthy rags” (Is. 64:6 NIV) compared to the holiness of God. But because the Lord saw fit to intervene on our behalf, our hope in Him and His promises will never put us to shame (Rom. 5:5). Our salvation can save us in our daily tribulations and mental struggles as well as see us through to the finish line at the end of our race.
Remember to “[s]tand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf” (2 Chron. 20:17a). Helmets can’t protect our heads if we don’t wear them. Actively putting on the helmet of salvation looks like contemplating our redemption and being confident in the One who has provided it.
Dana Carrington loves Jesus and words. A southern transplant now living in the national capital region, she reads travel guides for fun and has an extensive song lyric database in her brain which comes in handy for games of Name that Tune on road trips. She understands fruitcake’s bad rap is well-deserved, but is willing to bet her family’s recipe will change hearts and minds. Her husband and four kiddos are her greatest delight.
Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™