Helmet

Yesterday I rode the motorcycle to work. It was a great ride and I roared into the parking lot feeling pretty good. I swung off the bike, took off my helmet, and… a GIANT GRANDDADDY LONGLEGS SPIDER climbed out of it!!! It was all I could do to not throw the helmet across the parking lot and run screaming like a little girl in the opposite direction! But of course I am too cool and controlled to do that. I think I said a few choice words and hyperventilated instead.

They tell me that Granddaddy Longlegs are harmless, because their mouths are too small to bite you. But I really don’t want a spider, no matter how harmless, crawling around inside my helmet while my head is in there. Those legs are just creepy. I can tell you that the next time I rode I looked at the helmet very carefully before I put it on… and the whole ride I kept feeling things brush against my face and wondering if it was my own hair or something else’s legs.

While I was riding down the road wondering what was in my helmet that shouldn’t be, I remembered where I got this particular helmet. I acquired it indirectly from a kid who had gotten into trouble with drugs. Like a lot of motorcycle helmets, it was covered with stickers, some of which I didn’t want adorning my head. As I was removing the stickers, I found a pill tucked inside the lining of the helmet. I don’t know what it was, but I am pretty sure it wasn’t an aspirin!

So I was thinking about narcotics and spiders in my helmet when my mind drifted over into spiritual things, and I got to thinking about the helmet of salvation. Can you have things like spiders and drugs in your helmet of salvation? I have been studying church history, and I never realized that refuting heresy is what led to the various creeds and confessions and catechisms. The wording in those documents is very specific and exact for a reason. The details of how and what we think about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God affect every area of life. I can be saved but still have lots of other things wrong that will be detrimental to me. For instance, if I believe that there are many ways to God then I trivialize Christ’s work on the Cross, yet the Cross is the cornerstone of Christianity! I can believe in God, but if I don’t believe the whole Word of God is all true, then how can I know that any of it is true?

It is not enough to simply put on the helmet of salvation. I need to check my doctrine, my beliefs, and the way I live my life to make sure there are no spiders or narcotics hidden in there. That spider might not bite me, but I can tell you that if it crawls across my face while I am riding down the road it will cause a wreck. That pill won’t hurt me if I don’t swallow it, but would a policeman believe me if I told him it wasn’t mine and I don’t know how it got there, or would he arrest me for possession?

Take some time and study your Bible with a heart submitted to what God wants to show you. Make sure that your beliefs line up with what God says. Believe what God says. Don’t let a “harmless” spider or hidden drugs undermine your spiritual life.

©Rebecca A Givens, 09/03/10