Armor of God - Helmet of Salvation

I get to my blog each morning by making a web search for it. "Andrew Robarts Armor of God" or "Armor of God Andrew Robarts" Whichever I'm in the mood for. This morning, under "Related Searches," I saw "How to Put on the Armor of God," so, on a whim, I clicked on it, and found a few articles and blog posts from various authors, and even a WikiHow for putting on the Armor of God. It was almost all terribly basic stuff: You put on the Breastplate of Righteousness by being righteous. You put on the Girdle of Truth by being honest. You put on the Shield of Faith by having faith. Painfully basic stuff. But there was one item on one of those blogs or articles that made me think twice about a part of the armor that I almost never think about: the Helmet of Salvation.

The reason I hardly think about the Helmet of Salvation is because I feel that we have to earn it, then it's given to you, like a crown. Salvation isn't just something you pick up, like faith or honesty. Anyone can increase their faith and their honesty pretty much on their own, but can we gain salvation on our own? No, we need help. And securing that help (according to my thinking) would take time and work. I couldn't put on the Helmet of Salvation yet because I wasn't sure about my salvation. I couldn't wear it because I hadn't earned it, so instead, I focussed on trying to put on the parts of the armor I could put on by myself.

But the more I think about it, the more foolish it sounds. If I'm going to war and I don't have a helmet, would it make sense to say "I'm not going to worry about that right now. For now, I'm just going to make sure I've got a really good belt." That doesn't work. Even if my focus was to have a good shield, I'd still need a helmet. Helmets are vital. And so is salvation. I can't afford to say, "Oh well, I'll worry about that later." I need to get that helmet as soon as I can.

But the WikiHow gave me another perspective on what that might mean: "Keep the goal of salvation on your mind [and] remember that serving God faithfully is your goal." I might not have earned my salvation yet, whatever that really means. It's not for me to decide whether or not I have been or will be "saved," but, certain actions and behaviors of mine can have a very strong influence on whether or not I'll be saved. And I need to remember that. I need to "Keep the goal of salvation on [my] mind [and] remember that serving God faithfully is [my] goal." Emphasis Added.

My mind and my memory are in my head. You protect your head with a helmet.

This is exactly what I was missing yesterday. I lost focus. I let other things into my mind, and as a result, I almost didn't blog that day because I couldn't think of what to blog about. I think it's about time I started protecting my head, filtering my thoughts by whether they'll help me achieve my ultimate goal, forcing out evil and distracting thoughts by filling my mind with uplifting, ennobling, encouraging thoughts. Maybe that's how you put on the Helmet of Salvation.

Many modern-day Apostles have spoken on the importance of controlling our thoughts. Among my favorites is President Boyd K. Packer, who related the mind to a stream. It'll flow where we want it to go, if we channel it properly, but if we don't channel it, it'll take the path of least resistance, "always seeking the lower levels." So far, I've only been channeling my thoughts productively when I've had a homework assignment due, or when I need to find some spiritual thing to blog about. But if I channeled my thoughts more productively, more frequently, maybe I'll have an easier time keeping the stream of my mind away from the "lower levels." I could even get a water-wheel turning and actually get something done. I just need to focus.

President Packer also taught that the mind can only entertain one thought at a time. Shady thoughts will try to sneak into your mind and try to influence you, but you can crowd them out with positive thoughts. You choose what you think about, and as long as you're actively choosing to only allow good thoughts in your mind, the bad thoughts won't be able to break in. Your good thoughts will protect your mind, like a helmet.

 This is what I've been needing - The Helmet of Salvation, a reminder of what's really worth thinking about and spending time and energy on, something to help me focus my thoughts on things that are important, something to help me think like a Soldier of God.