Tighten Up Your Belt Series

The worst thing we can do is to remove our belt of truth. How many Bibles do you own? In my office, I counted four. They sit there with all the other books I have collected over the years. To be honest I must wonder how much time I would spend in God’s Word if I weren’t a pastor. Would these books become dust collectors?

When we lay aside the belt of truth, we begin to lose our sense of righteousness. We begin to lose our sense of peace. The joy of our salvation suffers. Soon our faith has waned and we lose our ability to trust God. Our life falls apart.

Think about this. The belt of truth is the only part of our spiritual armor that can be held in our hand. Let’s read

2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

God has given us the belt of truth. It teaches us right from wrong. It is the basis of us discovering what it means to live righteously. But most importantly, it prepares us to withstand the spiritual warfare that comes against us and equips us with weapons needed to fight against our enemy.

Satan desires to attack our armor and expose our weaknesses. He wants to put holes in our body armor of God’s righteousness. He wants us to stumble as we walk in the shoes of peace. He desires to knock our shield of faith from our hands. He wants to smash the helmet of our salvation. He wants to break our sword of the Spirit. But it is the belt of truth that teaches us how to battle Satan in each of these areas.

Righteousness.

Hebrews 5:12-13 “You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.”

The insinuation is that recipients of this letter were making some unwise choices. They once knew the simple, basic principals of being a believer but had forgotten them and were in need of being taught again. They should have been mature Christians but had backslid into infancy when it came to the Word of God. Therefore, like a baby, they no longer knew right from wrong.

This is a very realistic picture of today’s Christian. They don’t attend church as much as they should and miss out on hearing God’s word. They are too preoccupied with work, entertainment, family, plus all kinds of excuses to keep from spending time in God’s word.

When exposed to God’s word they become burdened and feel condemned. Although declared righteous by God when saved, they are no longer aware of that god-given righteousness. If your body armor is full of holes, the only way you can patch them is by putting on the belt of truth and making the written word a top priority.