The Belt of Truth (Ephesians 6:14)
Ephesians 6—let’s continue with the Armor of God, like you asked. I’m excited to keep going through the passage. This is the second of our—the second recording out of eight. And we’re still looking at Ephesians 6, the spiritual armor that God gives us.
I’m going to read from the top down to where Paul begins to talk about the first part of the armor, which is the Belt of Truth. Today we will focus on the Belt of Truth. I’m going to just read from the top. If you can, get your Bible out and just join me as we kind of humble our hearts here and see what God wants to say to us today.
Ephesians 6, verse 10: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might."
We need that word today.
"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore—"
And that’s what we looked at yesterday, just the command to stand, take a stand, and don’t take life lying down, but stand because Christ gives you what you need to be able to stand. He gives you himself, and he gives you the gospel.
And the first thing that he talks about now is this first one: "Stand therefore—" this first tool in our armor is the Belt of Truth. "Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth."
And that’s what I want to focus on today. The first item is the Belt of Truth buckled around your waist. It’s actually technically not a piece of armor when you think about a belt. That’s not a piece of armor; that’s not even a weapon. You can’t even defend yourself with it.
But in the Bible, this idea of a belt is actually connected to other verses, like where God says, "Gird up the loins of your mind and get ready for action." In other words, it’s a way of saying "get ready for action."
And, you know, back in the days when they wore these big, long, sort of loose robes, this wording, this idea of girding yourself up and getting yourself ready for action, involved, literally in their minds, putting a belt around your robes and being ready to move in battle freely.
You know, like—I mean, picture yourself with a robe, right? Things are kind of loose. I find robes extremely uncomfortable—not that I’ve tried recently, but you get the idea, right? And what does a belt do? Just think about that for a second. A belt sort of ties everything up so that you feel comfortable, you feel ready, you feel secure. It holds your life together.
And I think when we think about the belt, he says "the Belt of Truth." That’s the thing that he wants us to focus on: the Belt of Truth. Well, what is the truth? And, of course, he’s talking about God’s Word. That’s the truth that sort of binds us together, that keeps us together, that gets us moving into life with confidence and with freedom.
And so the truth is God’s Word; it’s the Bible. And it’s not so much about knowing it, although that’s important—we need to know it; we’re kind of doing the series because we want to know God’s Word. But it’s not about getting an A on a quiz on Bible knowledge. That’s not really what it’s about. It’s about applying the truth of God’s Word into our hearts.
And that’s what the Belt of Truth is about. He says, "Put on the belt of truth." Apply it into your heart. Know it, yes, but also apply it into your heart.
There’s two things I want to just briefly talk about here before we wrap up.
First, putting on the Belt of Truth means every day take the time to hear and believe what the Bible says. Don’t live by feelings. That’s what that means: to put on the Belt of Truth means don’t live by your superstition or maybe by luck or by horoscope. Don’t live by your feelings. Don’t live by, you know, a good day or a bad day. Let what the Bible says sort of hold you together and keep you going. Let this be your foundation. Let the word of Christ dwell richly in your heart and let it keep you together, let it give you the security and the confidence and the joy that you need, even on bad days.
The second thing that it means—what does it mean to put on the Belt of Truth? The second thing is it means let the truth hold your life together. All the loose parts of your life. You know, picture a belt again; picture sort of a robe or even uncomfortable sort of pants that are too big. And this picture here is: let it pull you together. Let it give you the stability and comfort. And let it do that in all of your life. Don’t pick your favorite parts. Let all of God’s Word search you and let it shape you.
And so, you know, part of this really practically today is maybe to pause after this and just ask God to give you insight and say, "God, where in my life are there parts of your Word and parts of what you say and what you’re asking me, what you’re calling and commanding me to do—where are there parts that I’m likely to water down, or ignore, or dismiss, or downplay? What are those areas of my life where I’m afraid or maybe not really ready to believe what you say to me?"
Which of your orders—I mean, remember this is written to Christians who Paul says are like soldiers. They are under the command of Jesus; they’re enlisted in his army. And he gives them these instruments, these tools for battle. And so this is not optional stuff.
So then when we think about this Belt of Truth, we need to ask ourselves: Which of Christ’s orders are we likely to downplay and dismiss and say, "Well, that’s not for me. I’m not going to do this, or I’m not going to do that"? And it’s good to remember a soldier doesn’t have that option. A soldier under command—I mean, you know the stories, Ron, right? Like in real life, a soldier who abandons his fellow soldiers and the army impacts everybody. And so the stakes are high. And so we need to ask ourselves as soldiers of Christ, spiritually speaking, "Lord, what are the things you’re commanding me to do? And are there things that I am not taking seriously?"
And finally: What parts of your life are feeling loose, right? That need the Belt of Truth, that need the truth of the scriptures and of Christ, that are loose, that are not ordered, that need to be gathered up by God’s Word? What parts of your life feel a little bit out of control, or too much out of control? Parts that you need to say, "God, I need you to bring order into this area of my life. I need to apply your truth to this part of my life."
And so this is a challenge. It means we need to pause, we need to pray, we need to say, "Holy Spirit, I’m going to spend some time today thinking about this, and meditating on it, and reflecting on it so that I can see your blessing, and see your order, and see your leading in the different parts of my life where I need your blessing and where I need your truth."
