The Sword of the Spirit
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Eph. 6:17
In karate this past Tuesday, one of my several sensei (yes, that is the plural of “sensei”) told us a legend of the origin of the Samurai’s sword, the katana.
In Japan many centuries ago, the weapon of the Japanese warrior was derived from the style of a Chinese broadsword, which was double-edged. A group of warriors left their village to fight a battle one day and later returned in a foul mood. They didn’t even stop to talk to the blacksmith, as per their usual tendency upon return, because all of their swords had broken in battle and they were forced to retreat and return in defeat. The blacksmith, so distraught at his failure which brought dishonor upon his family, locked himself and his son in their shop until they created a new sword, more resilient and reliable than their previous sword and also more lethal. The result was the katana.
The point I took from this was that the Japanese warriors could not go on fighting when their swords were broken. As Christians, our swords, our means of defense and offense against the world, is our Bible. How can we expect to fight with a weapon which we don’t wield properly, take care of, or in some cases not even take up to begin with?
So next time we read through and/or equip the full armor of God, let’s not forget the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
