Wielding Swords
One of the great delights I’ve experienced was being cast in my first play, Shakespeare’s King John. I was a first year theatre major, and scoring a part in a main stage production was a shock and a thrill. So many thrills. Watching and working side by side with the big dogs of the department whom I adored. The smell of my freshly-printed script. Falling in love with William Shakespeare, as the director and voice coaches taught me the fundamental beauties of Shakespeare’s language. Reveling over having a custom-made costume—my heart leapt when the costume designer revealed the sketches at the first rehearsal.
Part of my costume would include a sword custom made just for me. A few weeks later when the sword showed up at rehearsal the first thing I noticed was how heavy it was. Handling this thing would not be easy. I soon found out that it takes concentration and dedication to learn the rules, the art, the craft of wielding a sword. Once I got the hang of it, my sword became a source of power for my character. In my big scene, I used my sword as a means of grounding and strength as I squarely planted it in front of me at the start of my speech.“You men of Angiers, open wide your gates!”
I couldn’t help but think of all this the other day as I pondered the command in Ephesians to “take…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (NIV). The word “take” really stood out when I read it this time. To take requires effort on our part. Like I had to do with my stage sword, we each have to learn how to handle the sword of the Spirit. We must learn how to use it, apply it, appreciate it, understand it. It is weightier than one might assume. We soon learn that it requires determination to “take” this sword with us all the time. And then we learn the dangers of finding ourselves without it.
So, how do you take the sword of the Spirit with you wherever you go? You write it on your heart (see Psalm 119). You do the hard glorious work of poring over the Scriptures. You accept the privilege, responsibility, and serious honor of access to the very words of God.
This sword is dangerous and powerful—I don’t want to ignore it or not utilize it, and I don’t want to wield it lightly.
The whole reason we are commanded to put on the full armor of God—which includes the sword of the Spirit—is “so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes…so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground” (Ephesians 6:11-13, NIV). When we become serious students of Scripture—arming ourselves with biblical knowledge—we equip ourselves to do good and to stay close to the Lord and the truth as we forage through this evil world that wants to rip us apart and deceive us (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 John 2:20-21).
Oh, this world is so contrary to God and to the ways of God. We absolutely cannot rely on those around us to tell us what is good nor to be looking out for our best interests. Even when it seems like it’s good or pleasant or right, this world can be dead wrong. Friend, foe, or family member. Within and without the walls of the church. No matter what labels anyone pins on themselves. You must be armed yourself with the word of God—your very own personal sword of the Spirit, your tool to discern right from wrong, good from evil (for your own sake and for the sake of others). I recently heard Chuck Swindoll preach on living right in a wrong world, he said that deceivers prey on the unsuspecting—those who lack biblical knowledge. He warned, “Though the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve died and degenerated, its spirit lives on. That’s why Paul told us to keep a white-knuckled hold on the sword of the Spirit, the word of God.”
Several years after I held my Shakespearean sword, the theatre world would again bring sword imagery into my life. I was touring with a theatre company along the east coast of the US and across Canada. After every performance the tour director would give a little speech to the audience and declare: “The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12, NIV).
On that tour, we spent some time in Prince Edward Island, the home of Anne of Green Gables. As I think back on it, I see God’s crazy hand of providence where I didn’t even realize it was. For while we were proclaiming the virtues of the sword on our tour, we were crossing paths with the world of Anne of Green Gables which, unbeknownst to me at the time, was doing the same thing. In that story, which I only recently came to intimately know and love through several film adaptations, one of the first things Marilla wants to do when the young orphan Anne comes to live with her is to equip her with the sword of the Spirit by teaching her the word of God in their home and by sending her to church. Then, much later in the story, when grown Anne is leaving home to venture off into the world, she is encouraged to remember what she learned in home and church. Marilla was exhorting her, like Paul exhorts us, to take the sword of the spirit with her wherever she goes.
The sword is a mighty and a precious thing.
Take. It. With. You.
Now, God be praised, that to believing souls
Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair!
-William Shakespeare
Destiny Teasley lives in Nevada, where she is a lover of the arts, pop culture, and travel (you'll often find her daydreaming about being in Israel or Disneyland). She delights in encountering beauty in the world and helping others to see and celebrate it for themselves. Destiny studied at Baylor, UNLV, Oxford, and Dallas Theological Seminary. You can find more of her writing at her blog,whentherockscryout.com.