Watch Your Weak Points

In sports a coach searches for the weak points of the opposing team and tries to take advantage of them. In football when a rookie player comes in you will often see the play go in his direction.

In basketball the coach will send in a taller player against a shorter to get the advantage. In boxing each fighter tries to exploit the other’s weaknesses. You might have heard of the old saying “go for his glass jaw.”

The Great Wall of China was built at tremendous cost of time and labor. When it was constructed, in the third century before Christ, the Chinese thought it was the final answer to their security problems.

But within a few years the wall was breached three times, not by soldiers making an assault on the thick stone and masonry wall but by enemies who bribed the gatekeepers. A lack of integrity among the guards was the point of vulnerability.

In Satan’s war against God’s begotten ones, we can expect the same approach. Satan will attack at our weak points. We are told, (read I Peter 5:8).

When a lion hunts for food, it many times will search out the young, weak or defenseless animals in a herd, wearing them down.

Lions hunt communally and kill quickly, usually by springing or pouncing on the prey from behind and jerking the head back. They always go for the weak spots.

Sounds just like what Satan tries on us. Therefore, Paul encourages us to wear the breastplate of righteousness. (Read Ephesians 6:14).

The weapons Paul described are given so men and women may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Stand is the key word to this verse.

Three times he use the word (verses 11, 13 and 14), emphasizing that the great objective of the true Christian warrior is to be able to stand against great opposition.

“Stand therefore,” he says in the armor provided, which make us invincible. A righteous life is our best protection. But, periodic checks need to be made to see if there are cracks or weak spots in the armor. We must maintain our armor daily.

Along these lines consider the high costs of plumbing leaks – leaky faucets, faulty water pipe and the like. A circle representing a hole only one-thirty-second in diameter would permit 26,230 gallons of water to escape in one month.

Opposite a circle one-fourth inch in diameter through which 375,150 gallons would be lost in one month.

It is the same with us sometimes. We overlook what we consider little flaws or sins, explaining them away as just human nature. Certainly they are nothing to get excited about. Ever said that?

We forget that evil is evil in whatever degree it is found. And unless checked, it will grow in scope and intensity. Satan will try to pry into our lives through these little leaks and flaws. Evil can then flood in and overcome us.

To discover our points of vulnerability we need to examine our lives with the magnifying glass of God’s word. Sometimes we also need to scrutinizing helpful eyes of one of God’s ministers. Several times a year we need to do as David asked in prayer to God, “Examine me, O Lord and prove me; try my mind and my heart” (Psalm 26:2).

Are your weak spots in check? Read what Paul was inspired to write in Romans 13:11-12.