Ephesians 6:10-20

Spiritual Battle: Standing firm – The belt of truth

The soldier’s belt would have been used to tuck in the flowing robes that they wore to allow them free movement when fighting. If not the robe would be a hindrance and trip hazard.

There are two aspects to TRUTH:

–          The content of God’s truth. We need to study the truth of God’s word and understand it because Satan loves to cast doubt in our minds. We need to be able to test everything against the absolute truth we find in scripture

In our modern day culture truth can be very relative. The general attitude is “well it may be true for you, but it’s not true for me”. The truth proclaimed in the Bible is absolute and it true for everyone. Whether they accept it or not is another issue!

ILLUSTRATION:

I saw an advert this week that said “7 million people can’t be wrong”. Actually they can. If the entire population of the world said that the Bible wasn’t true, it wouldn’t make it any less true! This makes it solid and reliable.

The NKJV says “GIRD YOUR WAIST WITH TRUTH”. The word GIRD gives us the image of strength and holding everything together. If we are wearing the belt of truth it supports us from the core and provides a solid foundation to face the battle, just like the girders in a building.

We need an attitude of truthfulness. We need to steer clear of deception and scheming because that is the devils speciality.  As the saying goes “honesty is the best policy”. This goes beyond telling the truth when speaking to people. We need to be true to God and have integrity.

There is a great quote by CS LEWIS:

“integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching”.

Being honest and truthful will not always be the best policy for your own self interest, but it will always be the right thing in God’s eyes. Telling the truth may expose others, may harm your career prospects, or may turn people away from you but it is the only way, if we are following God.

One lie always means have to tell another to maintain your cover. If you tell enough lies you will eventually trip up. If you aren’t buckled with the belt of truth, you trip over, like a solider trying to fight without his robe tucked in.

John 8:32 says

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Sometimes we don’t know we are being lied to. When the world is lying to us, when Satan is trying to lead is astray with dishonesty, we can rely on God to show up the lies against his truth.