The Apostle Paul equated the armor of the Roman Soldiers with the Armor of God to give us a picture of how to fight off our enemy the devil. He starts off with the "belt of truth." There were five other parts that he could have chosen to speak of first. Why was it the belt?
There are so many untruths in our world that are supposed to be the truth and even marketed as truth. Many religions, cults, beliefs and all of them came from one source. And we are taught that truth is whatever we as individuals make it. What is true for one person may be different for another. How do we know what is true and what is not? Satan has created them all to blind the eyes of whomever he can. In fact, 2 Corthianians 4:4 puts it this way. The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbeliever so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.
The belt on a Roman soldier armor had a specific purpose. It was known as the cingulum or balteus. Without it, there would be no place to hold the sword, as it was the belt that held up the scabbard. The scabbard was a sheath that could be made from many materials like wood, metal, leather etc.
So simply, no belt no scabbard no sword in battle.
And so Paul was telling us that before we go into battle, we need to know truth from lies because if we don't, we aren't going to win the war.
Most of us have seen movies of Roman Soldiers that are in their chariots racing into battle. What if they didn't have their armor to protect them even though they were in their chariots?
It is the same for us Christians. We need to know truth and to know the truth, we need God's Word. And God's word is our sword. The sword of the spirit. We need to have it bound to us every day, held in place because it is truth.
I like especially what the author of this particular study said on The Belt of Truth - Armor of God > Free Bible Study Guides and I quote.
"...To try to live God's way without total belief in its validity is like trying to hold your sword up with a belt that isn't continuous. Neither will work. Our trust in God and his word must be solid, without break or we will quickly find ourselves without a weapon. No matter how effective the rest of our armor is we are useless without our sword. We need to rightly be dividing the word of truth-knowing what we believe and why."
And to know it, we need to be studying God's word. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15.
The fact is if something doesn't link up with the bible it is better to run not just walk the other way.
Otherwise, we lose the battle. The battle of sin and death. The battle of winning others to Christ. Stated simply is the question, Is your belt secure? If not, it should be.
Next up in tomorrows blog: The Breastplate of Righteousness
Thanks for stopping by Friends. I am so glad you came. Have a blessed day!
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