Ephesians 6:14

This is written by Joe Watt - I'm a freelance musician (so currently unemployed) and am involved with the worship band at St Mary’s. Big fan of cheese and passionate hater of avocados.

14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,

I find the Armour of God so exciting to read. In Ephesians, the way to equip ourselves properly for spiritual battle is described visually. After reading these verses, I like to close my eyes and picture myself physically putting on this armour. So where does this exciting passage start? The sword? The shield? Ephesians 6:14 tells us to, first, "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…".

In truth, at a first read, this seems quite anticlimactic. The thing is, the belt that they're talking about isn't a weak fashion belt, but most likely a 'cingulum militare', an absolute whopper of a belt made of thick leather and metal. It is thought that this belt not only held the scabbard for the sword but in fact, held the armour together. With this in mind, the necessity of having the belt of truth in place to hold everything else together is so obvious.

So what is this truth? It is knowing the reality of God. It is knowing God's word, it is knowing both his commands and promises, and it is knowing who you are in God. It's so blatant then, that the belt of truth has to be buckled around our waists before anything else; certainly before we can wield the sword of the spirit. It is in this truth that the rest of our armour is fixed so to protect us.

I often find it all too easy to rush ahead and put on the breastplate of righteousness and pick up the shield of faith first. How often do we find ourselves doing the spiritual equivalent of trying to put our shoes on before our socks? With this in mind, ask God to help you prioritise the truth of his word each and every day.