The college football bowl season recently came to a close. College football has evolved into a wide open attack offensively. Most teams are throwing the football all over the field and going without a huddle in an effort to keep the defenses off balance. But when all was said and done, the two teams who played for the National Championship were both known for their defense. So even though offense may entertain and sell tickets, it is still defense that wins championships.
I have always known that the best offense is a good defense. Defending in a game is one thing but consider defending property or life. This sort of defense takes on a whole new meaning. Guns as part of a defense package are a hot topic in politics right now. But that will be a discussion for a later day.
Today I wish to look to the animal kingdom and observe the various defensive strategies. These range from the opossum pretending to be dead to the newborn fawn whose spots make them very well camouflaged. Or consider the turtle’s shell or the cheetah’s speed. For our consideration today I would like to think about one from the insect world. The Bombardier Beetle has a very interesting defensive mechanism.
This beetle is covered with a hard shell but that is really not the defensive strategy. This insect has within its body various chambers containing some interesting chemicals. These chemicals have to be kept separate because they are highly reactive to one another. These chambers contain hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone. Other chambers contain two enzymes called catalase and peroxidase. When all of these are combined together, a chemical reaction takes place releasing heat, which raises the temperature of the fluid and gas inside the chamber to the boiling point. This foul tasting chemical heated to the boiling point is sprayed strategically into the face of the threat. And interestingly enough, the beetle carries a supply for at least 20 discharges!
Consider the complexity of design in this defensive mechanism. Now how much faith does it take to believe that this is the result of evolution? How could these chemicals so highly reactive to one another appear in the same body by accident? I have stated before that it takes much more faith to believe in evolution than to believe that a Creator designed all of these marvelous works.
Speaking of defensive and offensive weapons, consider the language we find in Ephesians 6. Here GOD describing to man the armor to be used to stand against the devil. He says to gird your waist with truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, shoe your feet with the gospel of peace, and utilize the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. Please note that with only one remaining, all those mentioned so far have been defensive in nature. Yes, defense wins…
The single remaining weapon is the only offensive one listed, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of GOD. As important as defense is, we certainly do need some kind of offense in order to win. In the only game that really counts, GOD’S word is all we need.
And oh yeah, did I mention that my team won the championship? For the second time in a row and three out of the last four years? And in addition to the great defensive effort shown, there was a tremendous offensive effort put forth. Offense and defense – let’s be good at both.