The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth…

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…” (Ephesians 6:14)

            If you are like me at all, you will find it difficult to deal with lies.  I have very little problem dealing with my own mistakes and even the mistakes of my children or others around me, but I struggle when they lie to me.  There’s just something about being deceived that brings out resentment, anger, and distrust in me.  The thing that amazes me about this is the fact that we know full well through Scripture that Satan is the “father of lies” and that “when he lies he speaks his native tongue.” (John 8:44) However, despite the way we feel in life about being lied to, we continue to allow him to do just that in the way we respond to the trials and temptations of life.  He lies and we buy it.  What we need is truth.  Like they say in the judicial system “…the whole truth and nothing but the truth…”  The first article of Spiritual Armor listed in Ephesians 6 is the “Belt of Truth”  In wartime, a belt was not like a belt as we know it, in fact it would be much more like a weightlifter’s belt, very thick and wide, giving strength and support.  The belt is the component of armor that holds all the other pieces in their place.  Righteousness (the breastplate) is only held in place in life by the truth.  We can only wield our sword (the sword of the Spirit – the Bible) if it is tucked into our belt, the belt of truth.  Truth must come first.  We’re not very comfortable with truth these days.  We think we can change it for different people, different cultures, for different comfort zones, and even for different denominations…. Not true.  Truth is truth precisely because it CANNOT be altered.  Jesus made the statement in His prayer just prior to the cross, “Thy Word is truth” giving us solid teaching about the role of Scripture in our lives.  IT is the standard by which we judge things to be true or not.  Do we allow it that authority in our lives?  Imagine the belt-less warrior… he’s not just humorous-looking, he’s in real jeopardy of losing his life.  May God grant us the open eyes to see our need for truth…real truth, not just what we want to see and listen to, but what is best for us and what we must chose to be obedient to regardless of how we feel about it.  Arm yourselves… we’re at war…and you’ll need your belt.