February 19 I Tuesday

Leviticus 25

Mark 1:23-45

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist...”  —Ephesians 6:14

The closer we get to God, the harder the devil will fight against us. The devil wants us to fall, but Paul, rather than encourage an offensive attack against him, writes of the need to mount a defense. “Put on the full armour of God,” he writes, “so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11). Writing from prison, Paul would have regularly seen Roman soldiers in their full battle attire. Perhaps this is what inspired him to compare their equipment to the Christian’s.

The most essential piece of this defensive equipment is the belt. The belt is what holds everything else in place: the breastplate, the sword, the helmet and the shield. Paul lists the belt of truth first because everything in our Christian lives hinges on the truth. Without the belt of truth, all other armour is going to be ineffective in battle because everything else is positioned from it. It is imperative both ethically in our need to lead honest lives and doctrinally in that the truth of Scripture needs to be buckled around our waists.

Ethically, we give the devil a foothold when we surrender truthfulness to dishonesty. It is the most fundamental of character failures when we feel at liberty to lie and create an alternate world based on deceit and pretense. Lying can easily become habitual and does not take long to spiral out of control.

The doctrinal aspect of the belt of truth is that Christianity is not just a great idea or a crutch to lean on. It is the truth. Our confidence is not founded in speculation or culturally relevant issues. We stand on truth that is non-negotiable because it is the Word of God. We trust the Bible, not because of what it says, but because of who is saying it. It is God Himself speaking by His Holy Spirit, and we need to know what He says to us in His Word.

The Word of God is the belt onto which everything else is attached and finds its stability. The devil is called “the father of lies,” and his tactic is to make us question truth. He does not blatantly deny the truths of Scripture, but subtly casts doubt and confusion. Many of the temptations we face each day are the work of Satan, who always offers something that appears good but discreetly leads us away from God. “Away from God” is the devil’s intent and we need to counteract him—not from an oppositional position, but defensively, standing firm in Christ with the belt of truth buckled around our waists.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the Truth, and I ask for a deeper work of your Spirit in me so that the belt of truth is constantly around my waist, not only in how I live, but in combating evil forces in this world. Thank You, Lord.