Belt of Truth

Day 1, Armor of God

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV)

              While I’d like to say I’ve always been on God’s side of the spiritual battle happening within our schools, I can’t. There was a season when I became too big for my breeches (as good southerners say). When I allowed gossip, hearsay, popularity, and brown-nosing to govern my actions. I floated between groups, saying what was “peacekeeping” in the moment, whether truthful or not. I surrendered my opinions for passiveness and became neutral about all things.

No longer did I speak strongly about Jesus with my peers. No longer did I actively participate in the spiritual battle. Instead, I wielded a sword for the enemy’s team without ever realizing what I’d done.

Long time friends who had participated in praying and studying God’s word with me pulled away without saying why. I became cliquish with people I would have never associated with before. And slowly, I slipped into a pattern that didn’t claim God at all.

My words were filled with judgment and arrogance and my attitude pushed people away who were authentic. The change happened so slowly, so subtly that I didn’t notice. Lies about everything rolled from my tongue without hesitation. Big ones. Little ones. Every day. I was becoming the very teacher that broke my heart during my first year in education.

              Thankfully God didn’t leave me there. Through a series of events and friendships that I had almost wrecked, God sent a friend to confront me in one area of sin, which opened my eyes to the multitude of sins that held me hostage. Namely, lying.

              That summer, I opened my Bible, my eyes fresh with conviction, and read the first half of verse 14 in Ephesians 6. “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.” Tears leaked on to the page of scripture. Liars can’t stand firmly. And they don’t have a belt of truth.

              I fell to my knees, a floodgate of emotions pouring from my lips. How could I have been so deceived? Lie after lie left my lips as I confessed them to Jesus. Motivations, intentions, and justifications were laid down at his feet. Unhealthy allegiances flashed before my eyes and I repented for each one. Sin had slipped in so slyly. So intricately. So naturally.

              Once the school year began, I felt like a fish out of water. I had done life wrong for a couple years, but I wasn’t sure how to undo, redo, and do it correctly with Jesus. One day at lunch, I sat with one of the friends who had slowly pulled away, and I knew I needed to apologize. I had not treated her well. She accepted my apology and told me I had become someone she couldn’t be around anymore and that she was glad God finally woke me up.

              Truth. Even though the words hurt, she spoke words filled with truth. I went home and journaled about our interaction and thanked God for opening my eyes. Then I thanked him for friends who told me the truth, even when it hurts.

In my mind, I saw myself tying a thin rope around my waist. It wasn’t a belt, by any means, but it was the simple start of wrapping truth around my waist. God’s truth. Unbreakable and unshakeable. And truth sure made my heart feel a whole lot lighter than all those lies.

Do the Heart Work

1.      Have you ever lied? Have you ever been a habitual liar? What led you to this way of life?

2.      What are some truths about God that you regularly remind yourself of to keep you grounded and connected to him?

3.      How can truth be a weapon of spiritual warfare?

Digging Deeper

Read Genesis 39:6-20 (NIV)

So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

              Joseph did not lie, but the consequences of a lie dictated the future of his career in Potiphar’s household and led him to years in jail for something he did not do. How do our lies affect others?

If You Get Spare Time 

              Think about lies that have led to other issues or consequences. Spend time in prayer or journaling about why people tell lies. Are they really helpful? Or are they hurtful? Consider how lies from others have impacted your immediate circumstances. Were they worth it? Why or why not?

              Now consider the importance of suiting up daily with the belt of truth before all other armor. Why would God instruct us to put on this piece of armor first?