No Belt, No Chance

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist... Ephesians 6: 14

There was a Jim Carrey movie back in the 90s called Liar Liar.  I'm not recommending it or anything, but there was a moment, when Carrey's character is "explaining" to his 5 year-old son that sometimes, "adults just have to lie."  He was trying to make the kid "understand" that lying was often necessary in order not to hurt people's feelings.  He proceeded to give the child several examples so the boy would see the picture and accept the fact that lying is essential for the good of society.  The little boy didn't buy it.  The damaging experiences he had had in his short life due to his Father's habit of lying were enough to help him understand that lying was not the best course of action.  There was a sense that the young child knew that whereas the truth might sometimes hurt, the pain caused by constant lying chips away at the heart, leaving an open wound that stays open and never truly heals.

Telling the truth is, indeed, often the hard thing to do.  It's no wonder that Ephesians 14 starts by saying "stand firm..." One surely must stand firm when preparing to tell the truth.  I imagine a cowboy in an old western movie...John Wayne style...feet firmly planted...hands on his belt.  The belt...the belt of truth buckled around the waist.  

What does a belt do?  Imagine John Wayne without a belt.  I mean, really?!  Just the thought makes me laugh, right?  The belt fastens everything.  It keeps the whole outfit in place.  No belt, no pants, no weapons, no dignity, ...no "grit,"

 

no chance...

Without the belt of truth securely buckled around our waist we enter the battle ready to lose it.

The truth is what keeps us in it.  The truth sustains us and maintains us on the right path.  The truth gives us freedom:

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8: 31-32

No matter what the world and society tell us, lies make us slaves to the father of lies...lying is his native tongue and when we do it, we speak his language, which identifies us as his kin,

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8: 44

Even if it might seem as if we are doing someone a favor by lying...in the long run, that lie that might have seemed as the sensible thing to do, becomes the gangrene that rots the flesh of the very relationship we sought to save...leaving nothing in the end, but hurt, pain and brokenness often too great to be mended or restored.  

Therefore, we must make sure we buckle that belt of truth on every morning to get our outfit together.  We need the grit of truth if we are going to have a chance in the battles we must fight.  In Jesus' Precious Name.  Amen!