Shining Armour

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

Have you ever wondered, when you’re interested in a particular topic, how many times it’s mentioned in scripture? Maybe, like me, you Google to find references to a particular theme. 

I did this with word ‘purity’ recently and found the top 100 verses in the Bible that relate to purity. When a topic is mentioned that often, we want to sit up and take notice. Here are just a few of them;
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Keep yourselves pure. (1 Timothy 5:22)

Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands a pure heart. (Psalm 24:3-4)

Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of the Lord’s house. (Isaiah 52:11)

In addition to this, there is another one that caught my attention this week,
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So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armour of right living. (Romans 13:12)

​I find this to be a very ‘visual’ verse.  I picture a young man, coming in from the rain on a stormy, winter’s evening. He’s soaked to the skin and covered in mud. I picture him unzipping his mud splattered jacked and casting it aside. He does the same with his Wellington boots. However, the rain and mud have penetrated to the next layer; in fact every layer of clothes is sullied, so every contaminated piece has to come off.

I picture him now, in his new, clean clothes. But these aren’t any ordinary clothes. This is his ‘shining armour’, whiter than white, indeed dazzling white.

Does this remind you of anything?
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Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. (Mark 9:2-3)

When Jesus was transfigured before his disciples, they saw something of his eternal being; the radiance of His purity, came sharply into focus.

​There is an inner clean-ness that God is looking for in each one of us. He wants to gift us the ‘shining armour’, but he can only do that if we live right and live in purity. I wonder what ‘dark deeds’ could be holding someone back today from receiving their ‘shining armour’? Could it be jealousy, or pride or selfishness? Or perhaps it’s unclean thoughts, lust, anger or bitterness? 

Shall we make it a point to take along, honest look at our ‘dirty clothes’ and make a decision to get rid of these once and for all? In doing so, we make way for God to bestow upon us His ‘shining armour’ as we live in purity. 


Pauline Anderson