It is no coincidence that the handshake has the same origin as the salute. They are very old gestures that go back to ancient warfare.
The salute is said to come from raising the visor of your helmet so that you can be recognised as a friend. The handshake demonstrates that your hand is free from weapons.
Both are gestures that render you vulnerable. In order to salute someone or to recognise them as a friend, you have to trust them and expose the chinks in your armour. To trust makes one vulnerable to attack.
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Armour has changed greatly over the centuries. Breastplates have become bullet-proof vests. Helmets no longer have to be fastened over your head with screws or rivets. Kevlar has replaced iron.
What hasn't changed is the use of armour to defend yourself. Christians are no different.
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St Paul acts as our armourer, showing us each piece of our armour and how it is to be used.
Our loins are to be girt with truth. Our most vulnerable parts are to be protected by being honest and recognising what is real. The Devil can wound us very easily with lies and falsehood. Knowing what the truth is stops us from being damaged from within and protects us from infection.
Our breastplate protects our heart. Together with truth, righteousness protects us from deep injury because we know right from wrong and that we seek to do the right thing. It stops the Devil trying to convince us to sin, for the wages of sin is death.
Even our feet need to be protected. We hear Isaiah say how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news. We are bearers of good news and so our feet need to be protected from stumbling in order to help our brothers and sisters hear the Gospel.
Our first defence against the Devil is our shield of faith. We have good reason for believing in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ. There will be times when our belief is challenged and so we need to wield our faith as our protection from the fiery darts of the Devil.
Our helmet is Salvation. Our minds can be clouded by all kinds of doctrine and false teaching but the truth is simple enough for any human being: salvation from Evil is ours for the taking at the hands of Our Lord Jesus Christ Who died on the Cross to obtain it and Who rose again to give it to us.
Finally, our sword is the Holy Ghost. This is important. Our foe is not a physical being. Our real enemy is not any other human being: our foe is the Devil and he is a spirit along with his minions. The only true weapon that we have against such an imposing adversary is God Himself. The love that God has for us is that He is willing to be our sword and destroy the enemy.
Why do we need armour? Why doesn't God just keep us in an impregnable fortress?
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The fact that we have armour shows that God expects us to fight Evil actively. We aren't to hide passively in a bunker. Our duty is to be soldiers for Christ out in the world for the good of those who do not yet believe, for the good of those who may never believe.
But we have to recognise the Enemy.
The real Enemy is never another human being. We are expected to love those people whom we might call our enemies and to show no less charity to them than we show our friends. It is for their sake that we are not hidden in a bunker but seek to combat real Evil.
We are to do it with humility and not bluster or bravado. We are to do it with wisdom and faith and not with all guns blazing. We are to do it with care and generosity for the salvation of others and not seeing our brothers and sisters as anything other than the reason to fight.
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The attack on Evil has been made for us on the Cross. Our fight is to defend ourselves and each other from a dying enemy. Our whole armour is nothing less than that of true love.
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