Don’t let the enemy get away with selling you the big lie. When thoughts inconsistent with what you know to be the truth come, be ready to knock them down with truth. The enemy need not shake us, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Peter keeps it simple, let’s make it our aim to do the same. We should remain alert to the fact that the enemy wants to inject lies into our thinking.

The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. Jesus Christ is the word of God made flesh, and you are in Him. This is why hearing the truth of the Good News resonates with your spirit.

Romans 12:2 tells us that transformation comes by renewing our minds. The more we see the world as Father sees it, the more our reaction to the world is akin to His. Knowing that we have been rescued from bondage to sin not only makes us compassionate people, but it also makes us bold and stable people. Our mindset is heavenly rather than earthly.

In a sense, trust gives legs to faith. We may believe that Jesus is all He claims to be and has done all He claims to have done in, to, and through us. Even so, if we do not trust Him, we hold back from Him. We walk in an earthy way. We conduct ourselves by worldly sight, according to the flesh.

Because we have been justified and made righteous, we have peace with God. We no longer need to fear His wrath. The enemy will try to tell us that we should. As he did with Jesus in the wilderness, he might even use scripture.

It is difficult for many to believe that they are righteous. They look at their attitudes and actions and know that these are often far from righteous. Doctrine indicating that righteousness is only given as part of the future inheritance laid up in heaven for the saints has fostered this idea for many.

Truth is the belt upon which everything hangs. It holds clothing up and holds it together. It carries the weight of articles being carried. Truth is the infrastructure upon which we can depend for security.

Rather, we struggle against unseen powers, rulers of the darkness—the valley of the shadow of death—the world and its earthy (fleshly) systems and ways of operating. We struggle against spiritual forces of wickedness that are not of this world. The devil and his minions.

You may be familiar with the record of a tiny shepherd boy named David defeating an enormous and fearsome giant named Goliath. As we read in 1 Samuel 17, David did not come to the fight in his own strength. He carried no usual weapons of war. Instead, he had the weapon of a boy. Just a slingshot against an enemy so great that the entire Hebrew army was afraid to fight him.

Now we come to the last segment of the letter. Here we are told how to stand in all this truth. How to hold this godly existence and conduct in a world that opposes all that is good and righteous.

Sit, Walk, Stand. Let’s learn what it is to stand.

I always knew I needed to treat my dad with respect. He was powerful and I was but a boy. I had a healthy respect for my dad. I wasn’t afraid of him, but I knew that he had power over me, so I willingly subjected myself to him. I tried to do things as he expected.

Central to these verses is the idea of mutual respect and proper use of positional roles. Children should respect their parents, but parents should not abuse the power they have. Instead, they are to help children grow in the Lord, just as the Spirit of our heavenly Father does for us.

Now our passage brings our focus back to the way this all plays out in our walk, our manner of living. It simply directs husbands to love their wives and wives to respect their husbands.

Many have pointed out the difference in the directive to husbands (to Love) and the directive to wives (to respect) saying that women respond to, or need, Love and men respond to, or need, respect. I can sure affirm that respect is a primary way in which I perceive Love.

Jesus is the representative man. Just as Adam represented all people when he chose to sin against God, so in Christ we are re-created, reborn, and made righteous when we choose to believe Him for it.

When Jesus was crucified, we were crucified with Him.When Jesus was raised, we who have agreed to be reconciled to God by Him were raised as well.

Christ, we are told, gave Himself up so that His bride would be set apart, made perfectly clean (as 1 John 1:9 puts it, cleansed from all unrighteousness, which leaves her righteous), glorious, spotless, youthfully beautiful, pure, and perfect.

He did it all for His bride. He did it for her benefit so that she would be all that she was designed by God to be.

I bet there isn’t a husband here who doesn’t want that for his wife. I bet there isn’t a wife here who doesn’t want that for her husband. And that is the point of submission.

Some of us have heard the comment, meant to be humorous, “I told her I loved her when we got married. If anything changes, I’ll let her know.” Many of us who share the typical male proclivities may almost naturally think that if we provide for our wives and protect them, we are demonstrating love. But there is a far greater depth of meaning here.

There’s this one word that causes great discomfort to many. It’s the word “head.” To ears sensitized to any hint of subservience and always on the lookout for signs of possible abuse, the idea that one member of the marital union is called “the head” to which the other is to subject themself can seem off-putting, even offensive. It can feel risky in the extreme.

As we examine these sometimes-volatile verses it is crucial that we keep our perspective. The focus of our study is now upon verses that well exemplify the reason that context must never be ignored when interpreting and applying Scripture. Doctrine built on passages severed from their context leads to a great deal of pain and division. Such teaching gives the world fuel with which to malign the word of God and the cause of Christ.

Consequently, we are well advised to ask ourselves “what is the context from which we are to approach our understanding of these verses?”

Love is not focused on self. Love is focused on others. There is no love without there being an object of that Love. Someone to whom Love is directed. Another someone, the best interests of whom are the desire of our own heart.