{"id":67763,"date":"2022-04-21T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/?p=67763"},"modified":"2022-04-21T10:43:02","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T14:43:02","slug":"the-belt-of-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/the-belt-of-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Belt of Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Roman soldier’s belt was used to support the sword and breastplate and provided a place for bronze plates to hang. The belt was always worn, whether or not the other pieces of armor were put on that day. Similar to how the belt was daily worn, believers are called to meditate on both God\u2019s truth and personal integrity every day to counter the enemy\u2019s deceit.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve heard so many sermons on the armor of God that Ephesians 6:10\u201320 has lost value for me. Maybe it was the sword and shield the preacher got from Party City to illustrate his sermon points or the overemphasis on why truth was a belt and faith was a shield that ruined it for me. I\u2019m not really sure. But whatever the reason, every time I\u2019ve read Paul\u2019s closing words to the church at Ephesus, it\u2019s always felt like an underwhelming ending to a movie that had such a captivating beginning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know it\u2019s not particularly \u201cChristian\u201d to admit not finding value in something written in the Bible. But, since we\u2019re talking about truth today, I thought I would start with some truth of my own. Especially since admitting this truth to the Lord opened the door to find an immense amount of value in today\u2019s reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time, after reading Ephesians 6:10\u201320, I asked questions like, \u201cHow does truth enable us to stand against the schemes of the devil? How does putting on the truths of God\u2019s Word give us the ability to resist temptation? And, how does putting on lies or half-truths cause me to stumble?” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One particular lie that has caused me to stumble is that humans are primarily sexual beings, the lie that we have these uncontrollable urges that must be fulfilled. So imagine my surprise when I read Paul’s instruction to not let even a hint of sexual immorality exist among you (Ephesians 5:3). Like Eve, I was tempted not to trust the entirety of God’s Word and take this command to be hyperbole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The danger of asking, “Did God really<\/em> say _______?\u201d once is that you will ask it again and again. You start calling every command in the Bible an exaggeration, asking, Did God really<\/em> say to love your enemies? Did He really say forgive seventy times seven? Does God really<\/em> care if I tell a little bitty lie to get out of coffee with this girl from my small group?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This slippery slope isn’t just the questioning of a list of commands but of the One who gave them. When we second guess God’s commands, we also second guess Him. We put not only His words but also His character on trial. To say God’s commands are unreasonable is also to say that He is an unreasonable and harsh Father with unfair and unrealistic expectations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The link between God and His words is unbreakable. To trust His words entirely is to trust Him entirely. Him. His person. His character. He is the truth we need to put on. It\u2019s the trustworthiness of His character that enables us to stand against the devil\u2019s schemes. When we trust all of His intentions towards us are good and all of His commands are for our good, we won\u2019t ask, \u201cDid God really<\/em> say?\u201d We will know the answer because we have wrapped our lives with the truth of His character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Roman soldier’s belt was used to support the sword and breastplate and provided a place for bronze plates to hang. The belt was always worn, whether or not the other pieces of armor were put on that day. Similar to how the belt was daily worn, believers are called to meditate on both God\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":67771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thearmorofgod"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[67712],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"THE BELT OF TRUTH<\/b>

\r\nby Yana Conner<\/i>

\r\n

A Roman soldier's belt was used to support the sword and breastplate and provided a place for bronze plates to hang. The belt was always worn, whether or not the other pieces of armor were put on that day. Similar to how the belt was daily worn, believers are called to meditate on both God\u2019s truth and personal integrity every day to counter the enemy\u2019s deceit.<\/em><\/p>
\r\n


\r\n

I\u2019ve heard so many sermons on the armor of God that Ephesians 6:10\u201320 has lost value for me. Maybe it was the sword and shield the preacher got from Party City to illustrate his sermon points or the overemphasis on why truth was a belt and faith was a shield that ruined it for me. I\u2019m not really sure. But whatever the reason, every time I\u2019ve read Paul\u2019s closing words to the church at Ephesus, it\u2019s always felt like an underwhelming ending to a movie that had such a captivating beginning.<\/p>
\r\n

I know it\u2019s not particularly \u201cChristian\u201d to admit not finding value in something written in the Bible. But, since we\u2019re talking about truth today, I thought I would start with some truth of my own. Especially since admitting this truth to the Lord opened the door to find an immense amount of value in today\u2019s reading.<\/p>
\r\n

For the first time, after reading Ephesians 6:10\u201320, I asked questions like, \u201cHow does truth enable us to stand against the schemes of the devil? How does putting on the truths of God\u2019s Word give us the ability to resist temptation? And, how does putting on lies or half-truths cause me to stumble?\"<\/p>
\r\n

One particular lie that has caused me to stumble is that humans are primarily sexual beings, the lie that we have these uncontrollable urges that must be fulfilled. So imagine my surprise when I read Paul's instruction to not let even a hint of sexual immorality exist among you (Ephesians 5:3). Like Eve, I was tempted not to trust the entirety of God's Word and take this command to be hyperbole.<\/p>
\r\n

The danger of asking, \"Did God really<\/em> say _______?\u201d once is that you will ask it again and again. You start calling every command in the Bible an exaggeration, asking, Did God really<\/em> say to love your enemies? Did He really say forgive seventy times seven? Does God really<\/em> care if I tell a little bitty lie to get out of coffee with this girl from my small group?<\/p>
\r\n

This slippery slope isn't just the questioning of a list of commands but of the One who gave them. When we second guess God's commands, we also second guess Him. We put not only His words but also His character on trial. To say God's commands are unreasonable is also to say that He is an unreasonable and harsh Father with unfair and unrealistic expectations.<\/p>
\r\n

The link between God and His words is unbreakable. To trust His words entirely is to trust Him entirely. Him. His person. His character. He is the truth we need to put on. It\u2019s the trustworthiness of His character that enables us to stand against the devil\u2019s schemes. When we trust all of His intentions towards us are good and all of His commands are for our good, we won\u2019t ask, \u201cDid God really<\/em> say?\u201d We will know the answer because we have wrapped our lives with the truth of His character.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"4","scripture":"Ephesians 6:10-20, Psalm 119:159-168, Genesis 3:1-7, Ephesians 4:11-16, 2 Timothy 1:13-14","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/SRT-AOG-ShareImage-4.jpg","author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}