Today I want to think about belt of truth - the first part of the armor of God from Ephesians 6:14
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,
Paul exhorts the believers of Jesus to put on the full armor of God. Salvation is something that is given to a Christian and the journey of faith begins. Salvation is not the end but the beginning of the journey of faith. Though a Christian begins his journey of faith by receiving this gift from God, there is a part that he/she needs to do to enjoy a healthy spiritual life and experience spiritual growth.
Putting on the armor of God is something like that. Though God gives grace, I need to believe in the grace of God and go through the process of spiritual training. Paul doesn’t say keep waiting God will give the armor of God rather he says put on the armor, which means this is something I need to do.
From verses 14-17 Paul gives a list of parts in the armor of God that a believer should wear. Clothes are symbols of attitude/character/deeds in the bible. (Colossians 3:12)
First comes the belt of truth. I wondered why Paul compares truth to belt. After referring to some articles I realized that belt is something that holds everything together. It is definitely not the modern day belt which comes to mind when I read this passage. It is the belt of a roman soldier. It is quiet big and strong enough to hold everything together.
The foundation of my spiritual life is the truth. It is not prophesy, it is not gift of tongues, it is not healing, it is not miracles and not any other thing. Truth is something that holds everything together.
Today’s world largely believes in relativism. Relativism is belief that there is no absolute truth except for the truth that relativism is true. Where there is no truth, there is no stability, no order and everything is chaotic.
Without the foundation of the truth I am unable to hold on to anything stable in life and making in worse I start to believe lies of Satan and follow his deception. Though many times we tend to take a neutral position in faith, the truth is there is no neutral position in faith. Either I am influenced by the truth or I am influenced by lies. Man is a being that cannot live without believing in something. No one can say I don’t believe anything. He either believes truth or a lie.
Realizing this importance of truth and its importance in the life of faith Paul brings it out first that one need to wear the belt of truth to hold it all together.
Amen