“So stand with the belt of truth around your waist, justice as your
breastplate.”
Ephesians 6:14
(Common English Bible)
There are some people who never take a
stand. I am thinking of a cartoon of a pastor sitting with his church board.
Prominent in the board room is a chart that shows a steady decline in worship
attendance over several months. The room is filled with discouragement, no one
more discouraged than the pastor. One board member speaks: “Perhaps, pastor, it
would help if you stopped concluding each sermon with the comment, ‘But then,
what do I know?’” Many are those who
live each day by loose opinions rather than fixed convictions. But the pastor
should not be one of them!
Here, the Apostle Paul is speaking of
considerable forces and powers that seek to diminish Christ’s witness and work
in the world. Rather than dodging the difficulties they present, Paul urges a
magnificent facing of those powers: “So stand with the belt of truth around
your waist, justice as your breastplate.” The spiritual forces of evil are to
be resisted as a soldier stands before an enemy, employing all means to stop
their advance. The church is engaged in a cosmic conflict and the armor for
battle can be nothing short of God’s truth and justice.
It is important to understand that when
Paul wrote these words soldiers wore a belt around the waist to hold loose
garments tight to the body and to allow quick movement. Our “belt” in this
spiritual conflict is “truth.” Paul speaks of the truth that is God’s Word, not
some sentiment or emotion. Neither sentiment nor emotion has the capacity of
strength necessary to face the church’s enemy. Each of us must face the
opponent with “the belt of truth around our waist.”
The difficulty is that no one can stand in
the power of God’s truth when little time has been given to become acquainted
with this truth. There is simply no substitute for the regular and disciplined
study of the Bible. As a solider must properly prepare for battle, if victory
is to be achieved the Christian must prepare by learning and applying God’s
Word each day. As God’s Word takes-up residence in our lives the “belt of
truth” is fastened around our waist, our character is forged and we become an
unbridled force for the cause of Christ.
Joy,
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