Girded by Truth

“Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth” (Ephesians 6:14).

What’s the first item that He instructs us to wear? The belt of truth. When you think that Satan is a liar, the liar from the beginning, the liar in the garden, and the liar every day in your Christian life, you better believe that you need the belt of truth! Truth holds everything, all the other parts of the armor, together for the child of God. If you think about it, the belt holds the sword up. Christian, there’s no point in you using the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, if your life is not bound up with the truth of God. It’s not only necessary for us to hold the truth of God, but we must also be held by the truth of God—it must hold us, bind us, support us!

If truth doesn’t bind us, do you know what will happen? The rest of our armor will fall to pieces, and we will give ground to the devil. Our duty is to put on the whole armor of God and stand our ground.

There’s an old rabbinical tradition that says Satan the accuser had to shut his mouth on the day of atonement. What a thought! For the Christian, our day of atonement started at Calvary, and if we’re in Christ it hasn’t stopped yet and it’s never going to. You may hear your accuser every day of your life, but we can listen instead to the voice of our Savior. When Satan has thrown everything against us, we can still stand because if God is for us who can stand against us? What a wonderful Savior He is, isn’t He?

—David Legge, adapted