While in college, I rode a motorcycle. I wore a helmet at all times when riding—no matter how short the jaunt. The gruesome consequences of going without a helmet were vividly reported. For motorcyclists, a helmet could very well mean the difference between life and death.
The same is true in the spiritual realm. To be “helmet-less” is to be unprotected in the most vulnerable area of our life—our mind. The helmet of salvation is the biblical truth that most directly addresses God’s saving work in our lives. That truth is protection for the mind and must be the source that guides our thinking.
Why is this so important? Because the spiritual battle is fought in our minds—where we do our thinking and form our reactions to sin, temptation and all of life’s situations. That’s why truth is so important. If we are not working from truth, then we are making decisions and choices based on a lie. There is no neutral information in this war. Your head—mind, imagination, thinking and deciding—needs to be protected with the helmet of salvation.
What is the truth that forms this helmet of our salvation? First, salvation was not initiated by us, but by God. “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (Ephesians 1:4-5). “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. God is the Author of our salvation” (Ephesians 2:4-5a).
Second, it was accomplished and secured by Jesus Christ. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
Third, it is obtained by faith, not by works. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our performance does not secure or guarantee salvation. Our salvation is a gift from God, received by faith.
I urge you to learn—yes, memorize—the verses listed above. Let them serve as a helmet of salvation for you—protection for your mind when the enemy comes with his accusations, doubts and insinuations. A mind saturated with the truth of God is protected from the lies and misinformation of the enemy.
