He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you have no sword, sell your cloak and buy one." Luke 22:36
And then two verses after He tells the disciples to get swords, they tell him that they have two and He says, That's enough! Luke 22:38.
So which one is it? Get a sword or don't get a sword?
When the impression first came to me to arm myself, I dismissed it because I honestly believe that God is enough. Yeah, yeah, I know how God will sometimes provide a way for us to protect ourselves and that IS His way of protecting us. I get it. But still, I don't want my faith to be in a physical weapon; I want my faith to be in my faithful Savior.
So I have prayed about this for quite some time now. I have never had random individuals suddenly suggest that I arm myself and yet in the last couple of months, it has happened quite a bit. But with every new direction, I prefer to take the time to study whether this is a direction from God or a distraction from the enemy.
When I finally considered the idea of owning a weapon, I suddenly felt unsafe because I didn't have it yet. So I thought, Well that's a load of garbage. Now I suddenly don't feel safe because I'm not armed? Forget it. I don't want a stupid weapon if it's going to shift my faith from God to it.
And yet, the impression remained, regardless of how hard I tried to push it away. I made a lot of excuses. I even used my children as an excuse. I decided it was not safe to have a weapon in the house with children. But then I stumbled across an ad for a quick-access hand-print weapon safe. So that excuse got blown out of the water.
Recently I was praying about a challenge I'm currently facing and "buy a weapon" suddenly popped into my mind again. I sat there, contemplating the impression. I identified the fact that I was not afraid so that impression could not have been a result of fear. (by the way, making decisions out of fear is a very dangerous thing so do try to avoid it, if at all possible). I asked God a simple "Why?" and then waited for clarity.
And then it hit me.
The weapon is not for MY protection. If it was, Jesus would have told all the disciples to arm themselves well. And yet two swords were sufficient. If it was for my protection, Jesus' instructions to the disciples would have included to practice to be the best swordsman in case they had to fight. If it was for my protection, Jesus would never have made the statement that those who draw the sword, die by it.
I honestly don't think Jesus intended for the disciples to actually wield their swords at all. They certainly didn't use them when they were being persecuted and killed for their testimony.
So then, why? Who is the sword supposed to protect if not God's servants?
Well... how about trouble-makers that would be tempted to do harm to the disciples? Because those that would harm them might be spared from that evil if there was an obvious deterrent in their line of sight. It is sad to me that there are so many out there that do not appropriately fear the awesome protecting power of God. They do not respect His authority to preserve the lives of His children. And so the only language you can speak to them is the language of this world. And in this world, having the ability to defend yourself can quite likely dissuade a potential wrong-doer, essentially sparing them the consequences of their actions.
From this perspective, it seems quite fitting that we, as Christians, should do everything in our power to protect everyone, even those that would try to do us harm.
I understand many Christians would take issue with my thought process and I'm open to other understandings, but for now, this is my conclusion on the verses listed above. And my conclusion on the issue of owning a weapon. I'm satisfied with it and have decided to share it for anyone else that has internally debated the need for a weapon.
(But yeah, definitely get trained for proper usage if you choose to own one).
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