“And do not give the devil a foothold…”

I just read through that chapter, and, wow! it’s chock full of wonderful advice and wise words! I would really suggest reading it, all the way from Ephesians 4:17 to 5:21. It’s all good, and stuff that we really need to hear!

But that’s not why I wanted to post. I just wanted to say something about the title I used. “And do not give the devil a foothold.” I don’t know if it was the devil trying to sneak in the back door, but I definitely think I need to keep on my game.

Recently, I’ve been really getting pretty comfortable about wearing a headcovering—just generally, in the house and out of it. I said as much to my family, and then, as those sort of things happen, I suddenly started feeling that itch on my scalp that I had when I first started to cover. (I hadn't felt it for a while now.) I complained about that, in a sort of way that meant I mostly thought it was funny. But I guess that has stuck in my family’s heads. So today, while we were eating family dinner, my headcovering was coming down, and so I completely rearranged it, so that I could be a little more comfortable. But anyway, my sister and mum said, “Why don’t you just take it off for right now?” I did not want to do this—for one reason, because (ironically!) I seem to want to pray more often when I happen to not have my head covered.

But what my point in all this, is that, even if that wouldn’t have been the worst thing to do right then, to just take off my headcovering while I was eating, but it had been made a bad situation because it was brought on by my silly complaint previous to that. I didn’t need to complain! And they don’t know what a blessing and how joyful it is to cover—unless I show them. My mom has told me that she has seen a difference in me. So I’m not doing it for nothing, in that concern.

So all you women out there who cover, don’t let the devil have a foothold. Always be a good example of how wonderful it is to cover. Let us not be like the Pharisees who, when fasting, would put on sackcloth and ashes and moaned and groaned, just to get attention. It’s not a curse to wear a headcovering, but a blessing, to ourselves and to others. So let’s show them that!

 

Shalom