Hitting the Bullseye

I’m sure we’ll all be glad when winter is over again.  We saw enough rain and snow last year to last another ten!  A few weeks ago, as I looked out of my window at the miserable wet road, my mind drifted back to Sunday mornings of my childhood, when my dad, a farm worker all his life, would take a rare moment of leisure to watch the farming programme on our newly-acquired TV.  One of the adverts that accompanied this broadcast showed a man walking across a farmyard through the pouring rain.  His colleague said to him, “Mornin’ Jim, I see you’ve got your ‘Bullseyes’ on!”  ‘Bullseyes’ were a quality brand of rubber boots, identified by a distinctive target emblem stuck onto the front. 

For farm workers, working as often as not in either falling or standing water, such quality was imperative, and this set me thinking about other essential footwear.  A year or so ago, I was requested to equip myself with safety boots with protective toecaps, because they are essential these days in order to gain admission to many industrial premises.  And if you enjoy walking in the countryside, you will readily recognise the foolhardiness of going along muddy tracks in city brogues or flimsy sandals, preferring instead stout boots with warm and comfortable socks.

But consideration of appropriate equipment is not confined to footwear.  Our garments and tools, too, have to be suited to the purpose if we are to be successful in our endeavours.  St Paul gave the early Christians some important advice, often referred to in Bible shorthand as ‘the Armour of God’ (Ephesians 6:13-17.)  Let’s remind ourselves of those key virtues that Paul said were indispensable in our fight against the forces of evil: truth, righteousness and faith.  Now, if we were painting a wall, we wouldn’t use a toothbrush; similarly, if we are to use these virtues to their greatest effectiveness, we have to have the right equipment: the gospel of peace to protect and direct us; the helmet of salvation, the ‘protective clothing’ of the enterprise, and in our hearts and minds the Word of God to which, in his military metaphor, Paul accords the title Sword of the Spirit.

Having read these verses, what do they mean to us in practice?  Let me suggest three quick possibilities – although I’m sure there are more, and deeper, interpretations.  Truth and righteousness can be harsh cleansers if applied ‘neat’ like disinfectant straight from the bottle.  They need diluting in the soft waters of peace that we can find taught in the Gospel.  It would be easy to think we’d bitten off more than we could chew if we started out in battle against any kind of evil without remembering the Salvation won for us by Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross.  This thought can provide us with the strength we need.  And finally, we must know our Bible.  Although sometimes it might be inevitable, imagine the embarrassment, in a heated discussion, of saying, “can we adjourn, so I can look that up?”  By the following day or week the key moment to make that reference would have been lost.

So, next time you’re caught in a storm, whether physical or spiritual, be sure you have your ‘Bullseyes’ (or appropriate equivalent) with you.