In our previous article, we talked about the enemy that we face in our spiritual battle. He is dangerous, because he is unseen and powerful, but we have an advantage: he has already been defeated. However, he continues to fight against us, so we have been given armor to help defend us against his attacks.
Today we’re going to look at the first piece of armor that God will help us against the enemy. Ephesians 6:14 says, “Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth.”
So, the first piece of armor is the belt of truth.
A belt is a practical piece of equipment, especially if you don’t really like having your pants fall down. But for the Roman soldier, it had other purposes.
A baldric, for example, was a belt wore from the shoulder to the opposite hip that could be used to hold a sword. Another type of belt had straps dangling from it, indicating the rank of the officer. Gladiators would wear a belt that covered their whole stomach while fighting.
We don’t know exactly what Paul was thinking about when he wrote this, but he obviously considered the belt to be a very important part of the battle clothing.
So, why truth?
First, truth is essential to our faith.
Our faith is based upon truth. The claims of Christianity have been tested and proved many times, showing that what we have is more than wishful thinking. Our faith is not blind acceptance of something for which we have no evidence, but trust in the evidence we see.
The second reason why truth is important is that it gives us confidence.
How confident are you when you can’t know something for sure?
Can you imagine what it would be like to go into battle for a cause you knew was wrong? A good soldier believes his cause is the right one—the truth, and he’ll fight to the death for it. If he has doubts about it, he might defect.
Unfortunately, we have many defectors in our battle. As soon as many young people have a choice, they leave the church or the faith. Others leave when life becomes difficult or too busy.
Why? The truth of Christianity is often not real to them. It is ok to be a part of it for a while, but they often don’t fully comprehend it.
What can we do about this? We need to teach the truth–the “whys” of what we believe.
We need confidence in the truth before we can be good soldiers.
The third reason that truth is important is that it gives us protection.
Later we’ll look at the shield of faith, which is necessary because the enemy is constantly throwing darts at us. One of these darts is doubt, and the way to combat doubt is understanding the truth about what we believe
So, now it’s time to get practical. How do we put on the belt of truth? It’s not like we can go to the drawer, pull out truth, and put it on.
Let me give you two practical ways that you can put on the belt of truth.
First, learn the truth.
You might be looking at the whole Christianity thing and wondering if it’s real. Well, study it for yourself. Truth does not fear examination.
For you who have already taken the plunge—keep learning! You may come across some things that make you question what you believe, or your friends may ask you questions that you can’t answer. We need to have an idea about why we believe these things.
The second way to put on the belt of truth is to trust the truth.
That is what we call “faith.” The truth will do you no good if you don’t accept it as truth. Ultimately, a search truth will eventually lead you to Jesus.
I think that truth is listed first in the armor of God because it is fundamental. If we don’t believe we have the truth, we will never fight.
This is what I’m asking you to do: devote some time to learning the truth. I’m not asking you to just believe something because I tell you or it sounds good. Examine the claims of the gospel carefully. Then, when you’ve settled in your mind that it is the truth, trust it. In essence, that’s what salvation is—trust in the truth of Jesus. But don’t stop there—continue studying so you can become even stronger in your faith.
In the next article, we’ll look at the breastplate of righteousness—another crucial part of our armor. I hope you’ll be back!
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Next: The Breastplate of Righteousness
