Breastplate in Action

Awesome mother/daughter nose picture.
My mom never sported another perm

When I think about getting dressed in the morning, I consider first what I am going to do that day.  If it’s the weekend and I am going out first thing to work in the yard before it gets too hot, I dig out some old doctor scrubs I found at Goodwill which are cool and don’t mind getting sweaty.  If I’m going to teach, I look a little better…but thank goodness we can wear jeans—they are my uniform.  For church, I am still old-fashioned enough to wear what used to be called “Sunday clothes,” and on the infrequent occasions when I go to something that requires dressing up, I go to the small stash in the back of my closet and find something that works.  
But do I ever put on a breastplate…especially a “breastplate of righteousness?”  Heavens….

What would that be?  What is a breastplate for?  It’s armor, it’s protection…it keeps you…what?...safe, protected, right with God. 

OK, right with God.  What does that mean?  Micah 6:8 asks what does the Lord require of you to be right with God, and it answers “to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.”  OK, I’ll do justice, if I know what that means.  The answer comes throughout Scripture…God’s justice is doing love, love in action, emphasis on the doing.  OK, how do I do that?  There is so much other stuff going on that sometimes I am lucky to do a third of the things on my to-do list…and I need to add one more?  Apparently, yes.  In Matthew 25:31, Jesus tells the story of the sheep and the goats.  You remember.  The sheep are the ones who did justice, who showed love in action by giving Jesus water when He was thirsty or food when he was hungry or clothes when he was naked.  They received God’s reward.  But the poor goats!  When did I not give you water or food or clothes, Jesus.  You know I would have if I had seen You in need.  And the answer comes back…when you did not do it to the least of these, you didn’t do it to ME! Oops!

So, to be right with God, we need to expand our circle of caring beyond our family and into a hurting world.  Does that mean you forget one to do the other?  Of course not! But you do become aware of what you can do that is of benefit to someone in need.  Maybe it means that when you clean out a closet or a toy box, instead of throwing things away, you deliberately find an organization that can use them.  Maybe it means finding time to take your children to a nursing home every so often so visit with someone who is alone.  Maybe it means that you hand the homeless guy on the street corner a bottle of water without judging why he is there.  Will you be responsible for fixing everything that is wrong and helping everyone who needs help?  Of course not, but beginning to build an awareness of what you can do is putting on that breastplate of Righteousness that God desires.  That breastplate would remind you that yes, God wants you to do justice, but you don’t have to do alone.  You have the promise of protection and strength from God to help you on your journey.  Faith, hope, and love…these three…and the greatest of these is love, love in action.

Bonnie Clemons