A Turtle Decision

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place” Ephesians 6:14

After I did a Google search this morning for an image for Ephesians 6:14, I got an astonishing result. It was a photo of turtles on a log! When that photo came up, I said, “Huh?”. Then I meditated on what the scripture said about standing firm and I thought, "yes, the turtles are standing firm on the log”....then I realized that the “breastplate of righteousness” was the turtle shell! "Oh, I get it now!" As the light dawned in my brain, I realized that the breastplate of righteousness that we wear is like a turtle shell and it is in the spot where we need it most. It covers all our critical and necessary internal organs of survival, like the heart, kidneys, spleen, lungs and liver. The "righteousness" that we wear is the ethical conduct in which we live out our lives. It is when we are faced with a moral decision and we know God’s Word (truth) and we use that to base our decisions. " What is the right thing to do?", verses "What do I think I want to do?". Sometimes those are tough decisions. Knowing God’s truth helps us to “stand firm” and to do the right thing in difficult circumstances.

Think about this ethical example.. a politician that has an expense account for his business meals that the funds come from the Democratic party. He chooses to take his wife out to dinner, his parents out to dinner and thinking it is okay since the funds were set aside for "meals". This money was set aside for business meals and he uses it for his personal use. He compromised his integrity and it was not right. Bottom line here is that, we will all be faced with decisions in life and it is up to us to stand firm and to know God’s truth to be able to make those decisions wisely as God would want us to do. After today, I will remember the turtle picture – standing firm with the breastplate of righteousness...to do the right thing when facing difficult decisions. I want to always make “turtle decisions” in life.

Question: Are you faced with an ethical decision today? Would you like to make a turtle decision based on God's truth?