The Belt of Truth

Bible Passage: Ephesians 6:14a

The first item mentioned in the Armour of God is the Belt of Truth. Truth is a crucial battle front in the spiritual war: indeed, Jesus is known as ‘the truth’ and the devil is called ‘the father of lies’. Whenever we have the opportunity to choose truth or lies, we are being asked to take sides in the great heavenly battle. As we are armed with truth, we will be well equipped to stand against the powers that seek to deceive.

Telling Truth: At its most basic level, being armed with the belt of truth means being honest when we speak. The Ninth Commandment (Exodus 20:16) instructs God’s people not to bear false witness against their neighbour, and most parents drill into their children the importance of truth-telling. Nevertheless, in practice it is not always that simple. We all face situations many times a day when a lie would be more convenient than the truth. Sometimes this is to protect reputation, to create and image or to personally gain. Other times it might be to avoid a difficult conversation or to flatter somebody else. When we lie, work to create narratives that are untrue, or act in other ways designed to leave people with a false impression then we are joining in the purposes of the deceiver. But when we speak the truth, even if it is hard or costly to do so then this has spiritual power to cause the darkness and deceit of the enemy to flee.

Prizing Truth: Given that truth is so fundamental to spiritual warfare, we should be people who not only speak truth ourselves but who prize it from others too. Sometimes it can be more comfortable for a conspiracy of silence to exist, where tricky issues are not raised and certain truths are not spoken, but all this does is leave things in the shadows. In Ephesians 5:11, Paul instructs us to bring to light that which was in darkness. We should long to create cultures where all truth can be spoken, and this means creating safe listening spaces where lots of people can be heard. We should ask who feels silenced and work out ways to amplify their voices. We should listen to those seeking to whistle-blow and tell inconvenient truths. We should ask good questions and be diligent in sifting truth from falsehoods; and then as we find truth to be ready to act on it – whatever it may be.

God’s Truth: The ultimate truth that we have is found in God’s word. As we seek to build our lives on truth, the best way to do this is to become familiar with what he has said. It has often been observed that we are formed by the media that we consume. As we choose to focus on taking in God’s word rather than the narratives of this world, we will be shaped by God through that word. Building a habit of regularly reading the Scriptures, meditating on them and seeking to apply them is crucial. This is a good point in the sermon to get practical and share some tips for regular Bible reading. Perhaps there is a particular reading plan that you used and could recommend to people?

Potential Applications:

• Invite people to start a regular Bible reading plan. Perhaps you could set up a group chat and invite people to read together in community and discuss what they read?
• Challenge people to think about what voices are not being heard in your community and what truth might be missed as a result.
• The passage challenges us all about the moments where we choose falsehood over truth, whatever that looks like. You could invite people to repent of where they have done this and commit themselves afresh to being truth-tellers.