Dress For Sucess Part 1 Series

The question then is how do we keep the camel out of the tent, how do we “Stand our Ground”?

Glad you asked, Paul continues Ephesians 6:14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth . . . Put on the Belt of Truth While I was working on this point I asked myself “what is the main purpose of a belt?” And my immediate response was: It keeps my pants up. Now I know that some people never wear a belt or if they do it’s simply a fashion accessory.

But as a person with no butt let me tell you that the main purpose of a belt is to keep you pants up. And that is important because it keeps me from being distracted with the thought “I wonder if my pants are going to fall down.” Our modern translations tend to use the analogy of a belt, in the NIV it says Ephesians 6:14 NIV Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth . . .

And while that seems to make sense for us today that isn’t the picture that Paul was drawing we he wrote this. The problem is that culturally what Paul had told those early believers make little sense to us 2000 years later. The King James Version is pretty close to what was written in the original Greek in this passage, it’s just doesn’t make sense to us in 2015, because in the KJV Paul tells us Ephesians 6:14 KJV Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,

Having your loins girt about with truth. Has a nice ring to it, but what does it actually mean? Well 2000 years ago folks didn’t need a belt to hold up their pants because they didn’t wear pants. They all wore long robes, which were probably really comfortable but really awkward when you were involved in things that required mobility, like battle. I went to the website: The Art of Manliness and found instructions. I told Angela that I was going to find a robe to wear this morning so I could show people how to gird their loins and she looked absolutely horrified. In our 33 years of marriage I’ve learned that in situations like this it’s best to trust Angela on things like these. So instead of a robe I got pictures. So here is an illustrated guide.

So what does that have to do with anything? Well Paul is telling us that we need to have a firm grasp of the truth. When I was in high school we learned about situational ethics that is the concept that what is true depends on your circumstances. And that makes life difficult. In 2015 in Canada there are very few absolutes, what society knew was wrong fifteen years ago, well not so much today.

Someone said that we have narrowed the Ten Commandments down to “Thou shalt not kill” but even that is open to interpretation according to the pro-choice abortion proponents and those who promote assisted suicide.

Listen to what Jesus told those who rejected him in John 8:44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.