Jones: Protect your spiritual points of weakness
By Lynn Jones
When I was a kid, I saw a “Goofy” cartoon in which he was in a boxing match. Goofy came into the ring, he was facing an opponent who was a big hulk of a man with fire in his eyes. Before the match began, Goofy pulled his trunks up to the top of his forehead and said to his opponent, “Remember, you can’t hit below the belt.” That didn’t help much. His big opponent zeroed in on the one spot that was vulnerable. He started hitting Goofy on the top of the head and drove him through the canvas.
On a more literary note, something similar occurred in Homer’s “Iliad.” Achilles was a boy who was born to Thetis. To protect her son in the years ahead, Thetis carried him down to the river Styx. Everything that the waters of the river touched became impervious to attack or injury. So, Thetis held her small son by his heels and dipped him into the waters of the sacred river. Only the heels of Achilles remained dry, and therefore unprotected.
Achilles grew up to become a mighty warrior for the Greeks. He fought heroically in the battles for the city of Troy and killed many Trojan soldiers and their allies. After many great victories, Achilles was involved in one final battle. In this battle, Paris, son of the Trojan king Priam, shot an arrow which found Achilles’ only vulnerable spot. The arrow hit his heel, and Achilles was felled by this wound, which led to his death.
We have memorialized Achilles by naming a tendon in our body after him. This small tendon above our heels is still a vulnerable spot. Great athletes are put out of action by an injury to their Achilles tendon. We still talk about a person’s point of weakness as being “his Achilles heel.”
No part of the head is named after Goofy, but when people are acting strangely, we do say that they are acting a little “goofy.”
The fact is that we all have our vulnerable spots. All Christians have their points of weakness where they are most susceptible to temptation and sin, and Satan knows where your point of weakness is.
The apostle Paul said, “Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.” Paul listed the parts of the Christian’s armor as being the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes that make one ready for action, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:13-17).
Do not leave any part of your life vulnerable. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to win the battle. With God’s help, you can be victorious over temptation and sin.
Lynn Jones is a retired pastor who lives in Oxford. He does supply preaching for churches in his area and often serves as an interim pastor. Jones is also an author, has written two books and writes a weekly newspaper column. He may be contacted at: kljones45@yahoo.com.
