Key Verse: “Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest” (Ephesians 6:14 CSB)
According to the Apostle Paul, the key to standing firm as we engage in the spiritual battles we will surely face as followers of Jesus Christ is suiting up in the armor of God. We must use His weapons of warfare.
The first Paul mentions is the belt of truth. For a Roman soldier, his belt was an important part of his protective gear. Just like we use a belt to keep our pants in place, a soldier’s belt held his armor in position, and allowed him to march and carry out his warfare without any impediment or entanglement. His belt was also what held his sword when it wasn’t in use.
Paul uses this imagery to remind us of the importance of truth in the battles we will encounter. Like a belt around our waist, we need to ensure that we are wrapped in God’s truth in all that we do. God’s truth must permeate our lives at all times.
Why is this so important? First and foremost, it is because our enemy is a deceiver. He loves to distort God’s truth in an attempt to lead us away from Jesus. Jesus said that our enemy, “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44). We must therefore put on the belt of truth so that our enemy does not deceive us.
The belt of truth is also important because the world around us has sought to redefine or make truth relative. “Your truth is not my truth,” they try to tell us. But the reality is that objective truth is real, and is the foundation on which we must stand as we seek to follow Jesus and engage in the spiritual battles that will no doubt come. These battles are almost always about what is true and what isn’t.
So what is the truth then? How do we know what is true? It’s an important question to ask. Truth is not defined by our feelings or our experiences. It’s not one thing to someone, and another thing to another. Paul tells us that, “the truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21). Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He is the One who defines reality, because He is the One who created it and holds it all in His hands. Truth is found in all that God has revealed to us through Jesus and what He has said in the Scriptures.
With that in mind, how do we stand firm in the truth? It begins by knowing the truth and renewing our minds constantly in it. Paul wrote, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). As we fill our minds with God’s truth and allow it to transform our hearts, we are able to stand firm and withstand our enemy’s attempts to deceive us and lead us away from Jesus.
What does it look like for you to stand today with truth like a belt around your waist?
Prayer: Jesus, I stand today in you, because the truth is in you. Thank you for making yourself known to me. As the enemy seeks to lead me astray with his lies, fill my mind through your Spirit with all that is true, right and good. Help me to stand firm in your truth today, no matter what may come. Amen.
Author: Jonathan Miller has served in pastoral roles for more than 13 years in churches in Barrie, Oakville and Burlington, Ontario. He currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Prison Fellowship Canada, a ministry that mobilizes and equips local churches to engage in the restorative work of prisoners, ex-prisoners, their families, and victims across Canada. Jon holds degrees from McMaster University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He and his wife Adrienne have been married since 2004, and live in Burlington, Ontario with their 4 children. Jon’s greatest passion is to know Jesus and to see lives transformed by Him and for Him.
