Have you got your belt on?
In our household when we put our kids to bed, we get the kids to tell us what the various parts of the armour of God are. When we come to the belt of truth, both Abigail and Logan say this; “Make sure you have got your belt of truth on or else the pants of love will fall down and everyone will see the undies of sin.” It makes us laugh and of course we know that armour does not contain the ‘pants of love’ or the ‘undies of sin’.
Ephesians 6:10-17 talks about the armour of God and the first part of armour mentioned is the ‘belt of truth’. But what is truth? Surely in our post-modern age truth is what one perceives it to be? Pilate made the statement in John 18:38 “What is truth?” Is truth subjective? Is truth what we make it? Is there more than one truth? I believe not.
If truth is subjective then there cannot be truth, it’s an argument that defeats itself. If truth is subjective, then we can have no laws, no rules, for my truth is my truth. Therefore, I can do what my truth tells me. This would lead to chaos and anarchy. Truth has to be objective, based on a solid foundation, something that is unchanging.
It is interesting that in nearly every culture on the planet there are certain things deemed as ‘truth’. These universal ‘truths’ include such things as murder is wrong, to take another person’s stuff is wrong, to lie to a person in authority is wrong. Why, if truth is subjective, are these so universal? Ecclesiastes 3:9 states ‘He has put eternity into man’s heart’ Paul said in his address at Mars hill that ‘for in Him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28). So what does this mean? It means that God has placed objective truth into our very D.N.A. Hebrews 10:16 says ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds’.
As His people we have truth, we have it placed in something objective; the reality of God, the creator and maker of all things. He is the ultimate truth. We in our former ignorance, while we understood the basic ‘truths’ would justify our sin by proclaiming that this is my ‘truth’. Truth based on a subjective reality that changed accordingly. But God’s truth does not change, it is unwavering, it is the standard by which we as His people need to live by.
So is your belt of truth on? Or are your pants falling down for all to see? Keep that belt fastened, so that when this world and the enemy assault you, you won’t trip over your pants.
In Christ our redeemer, Ps Jeff