The past few years I’ve had the privilege of serving as a lifeguard at a local Christian camp. After three grueling days of training, we received a very important piece of equipment – our CPR mask. Inside the mask there is a small filter that keeps any of the germs or gunk from the person you’re giving CPR to from getting to you. And so I thought, looking at my mask the other day (and having to come up with a devotional for our staff meeting)… just like a pair of gloves or a CPR mask, Christ can be our PPE – Personal Protective Equipment, to help us live full and joyful lives! Here are 3 areas we can guard with the help of Jesus and His word:
1. Guard your spiritual life – So often we look for life in things or people that ultimately are just never going to satisfy, or are going to fail us sometime when we need them most! We need to be plugged into the “life source” that can never run dry – much like a car battery, when ours gets low or dies we often walk around trying to clamp our jumper cables onto other people’s batteries – problem is, we suck energy out of them or drain them dry. Christ is like a never-ending energy supply – his batter never runs out!
Psalm 28:6-8 – “Blessed bye the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults and with my song I shall thank Him. The Lord is their strength and He is a saving defense to His anointed.”
2. Guard your emotional and mental life – Life is a rollercoaster. We have up days, we have down days. Letting Christ protect your emotional and mental life means filtering all your feelings and experiences through the truth of what God says about you. In good days, know that good gifts are always from Him. In the bad days, know that He is faithful. Don’t let your emotions knock you off simple obedience to God.
Habakkuk 3:17-18 – “Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation…”
3. Guard your physical life – Christ is our life – but he often speaks through other people. This is why connecting with other Christians is so important – they become the hands and feet of Jesus to us as we also reach out to physically touch them, supporting one another through the ups and downs of life. Build a community around yourself that will be a physical and practical support to your growth in Christ.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up…”
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