Don't Leave Home Without It

By Pastor Justin Cooper

Have you ever been driving down the interstate and out of nowhere a rock cracks against your windshield? You almost wreck. Your heart's in your throat. And you look up at that trucker who tossed it back like he doesn't have a care in the world.

I've had that happen a few times. And I'll tell you what — every time, I think the same thing. Thank God for that windshield.

That's about as close as I can come to understanding why a Roman soldier would not — could not — leave home without his shield.

"You got to pick it up and take it with you. You got to make a decision to carry it forth. Faith in God."

Sunday night I told the church the word Paul uses there in Ephesians 6 verse 16 is the word take. As in, the soldier has to reach down and grab the handle. The shield doesn't strap itself on. "No soldier would dare run off into battle without his shield unless he wasn't thinking very clearly."

And here's what I want you and I to wrestle with this morning.

Most of us don't decide. We drift.

We walk into the meeting hoping it'll be fine. We open the doctor's email already bracing for impact. We turn on the news and let the fear settle in. Y'all worry about stuff? I'm asking. Some of you laid in bed last night biting your nails, tossing and turning, working through every possible bad ending.

Listen — that's not a Christian's atmosphere. That's not where God built you to live.

"We live in a day where so many people live by fear. But God's people have been called to live by faith."

So here's your Monday. Before your feet hit the floor — before the phone, before the coffee, before the news — say it out loud:

"Today I'm picking up the shield. Today I'm trusting God."

Then name the thing. The bill, the diagnosis, the kid you can't reach, the thing that woke you up at 3 AM. Name it out loud. And put it under the shield by name. Don't carry it. Cover it.

Brother, sister — faith doesn't strap itself on. You got to pick it up.

Don't leave home without it.