Not too long ago, one of my AWANA® assignments was to write about each piece of the Armor of God and how I use it in my daily life. I discovered that once I started to write for the assignment, I enjoyed writing on the subject.
So, here I am writing a blog series about The Armor of God. In this series I will talk about each piece, going over with you what I learned that weekend. Today we will be talking about the Belt of Truth.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” ~ Ephesians 6:10-17 NIV
One of the things which I discovered when I was writing is the fact that, without knowing a little about Roman armor, the need for the belt of truth would be a little lost on me.
For the Roman soldiers, the belt would be as vital a piece as the helmet. Why? Because without it their leg armor would fall down and trip them, their breastplate would be very loose, their sword and other things they kept in their belt would have to be carried, the list goes on but I think you get the idea. Life would be way too hard without a belt.
Deposit Photos by FedeCandoniPhoto
This item holds the rest of the Armor together. Without knowing and practicing the truth, using some of the other parts of the Armor would be practically impossible. This ties in with the next piece (The Breastplate of Righteousness) which we will discuss in more detail in my next post. How?
Have you ever noticed that when someone doesn’t tell the truth it often is to cover up something they did or that someone else did that was wrong? If we act upon our knowledge of truth it can (and will) hold our righteousness intact.
We learn the truth by studying God’s Word and by applying what we have learned; we use the Belt of Truth to hold the rest of the Armor together.
Read more in this series:
Thank you Clara for a well written article. You are so right in your summary paragraph, that one mis-truth is often used to cover up another. Just as the Roman soldier need his belt to hold all of his gear together, so Truth holds all things together.