“Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness” (Eph. 6:14).
With the truth, we are seeing things as they really are. The truth is not just facts, but facts acted on.
A person may research what the Bible says about idolatry, which is putting something ahead of God or Jesus, and miss seeing his own idolatry. He has all the facts about the idolatry that drove Israel from God in the OT; he can list the idols the NT epistles condemn. But when it comes to his own idolatry – his life emphasis on hobbies and leisure, for example – he doesn’t yet have the truth of idolatry, that he needs to set Jesus first and foremost.
Through the Word, the Spirit impresses the truth of the spiritual state upon the child of God’s heart. Accepting the truth, he repents and puts his idols in their proper place. The truth makes a difference; facts are just the tools the Spirit uses to communicate life-changing light to us.
We resist the truth because –
• we don’t want to take on the extra responsibility or life changes it requires
• it wounds our pride and bruises our ego
• we prefer the familiar; we want things to stay the same
Interestingly enough, these reasons are also why we don’t progress in our faith and character. Where there is no truth being communicated, no growth is possible. See the Parable of the Sower.
This belt of truth is mentioned in Ephesians chapter six, which talks about the warfare being waged against us in the heavenly places. Is demonic activity real to you? Has the truth about their work sunk in? We have all kinds of spiritual warfare facts about demons and devils; we have head knowledge about their lies against God’s people that are designed to dirty them for the throne, to uproot any growth the Word has caused, to sully our minds and hearts with the values of the world – to turn us to the Dark Side. But without the truth in our hearts, we don’t act upon the information; it’s not real yet; we are still blind in that area. Without the truth, we don’t put on the armor and fight for what we have.
We have all the facts; we just need to accept their truth, then we may act upon them that they may make a difference in our lives.
The truth is, the spouse is not the source of your problems. Your children or parents are not the reason why you hate life. That horrible boss is not undermining your quality of life. That physical or mental disability is not the reason that your life is substandard. Christ has more than enough provision for you to triumph in all areas of life. The truth, if you choose to accept it, is that the enemy uses these things to wear you down and undermine your faith, to keep you distracted from your God and what He’s willing to do for you. We are told: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV).
Demons really are battling against our hearts and minds through our culture, our fleshly drives, and inbred sin nature. The enemy really is trying to turn us from the kingdom values taught in the Word. The fight is earnest and active. The enemy will never give up until they are destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming. By ourselves, we really are powerless to stop the enemy, especially if we are reasoning according to this secular age, its civil laws and cultural norms.
We prove that we are bound with the belt of truth if we recognize the enemy’s work against us, are praying for protection, and pleading for help to stand firm for the good things God has already given us.
We have left our belt of truth heaped in a corner when we believe the lies of our culture, that what we know of our senses is more real than the spiritual world, that the passing things of this life are more valuable than the unseen, unfelt, eternal things. When we have no time to pray and engage ourselves as soldiers for God’s truth to prevail, then the light of God’s truth about the situation doesn’t shine in us yet.
Heartfelt acts of earnest prayer are raybeams of the light shining within us. Put on the belt of truth – accept the impressions the Spirit is giving you of a situation – and fight for your lives and the ones you love. Then, with God’s power, stand firm to protect the advances God has already done in your life.
