The Belt of Truth...

Chapter Fourteen:

The first piece of armor that is listed in Ephesians 6: 14 is the belt of truth; it reads, "... having your loins girt (secured) about with truth".  Many believers have been taught that the belt was listed first as it was necessary to be put on first, it was the foundational part of the armor to which most of the other parts were attached.  Gurnall has us look at it differently. He focused on the significance of the belt being comprised of "truth", and he believed that truth, itself, is what is needed to hold one's armor together. 

He also clarified what he felt was meant by loins.  In First Peter 1:13 we're told to "...gird up the loins of your mind".  Our loins refer to not only our mind, but also our spirit, both of which wear this belt of truth. Our minds and our spirit must be securely connected to truth.  Gurnall felt that it was very important for every believer, every soldier, to understand the importance of truth being the foundation upon which all the other parts of the armor are secured.

Before I had read Gurnall's teaching on the belt of truth, I thought it meant that we needed to be confident that we believed in the Scriptures, that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. If we did, then we believed in the truth. While this is accurate, Gurnall goes on to challenge us to ask ourselves how we've arrived at what we believe to be the truth, and to judge ourselves to see if we are rooted strongly enough in truth so that nothing can move us. Is our truth truly grounded in God's Word or have we mixed in other ideas to come up with our own version of truth? As the only way to defend ourselves against our enemy is to be deeply rooted in truth, we need to be certain of the truth on which we stand.  We need to understand the necessity of being unshakeable when it comes to standing for the truth.

Gurnall gives us several reasons as to why we need to be firm in what we believe to be the truth.  First, so that we are protected from false doctrines/teachings that have the potential to cause us to walk away from truth, and thus the narrow path that leads to Heaven.  Satan's most powerful tool he can use against a believer is to have us believe false teachings so as to separate us from the powerful truths that we find in the Scriptures.

Since Satan comes to us skillfully concealed in false teachers in order to deceive us in the hope that we will trade truth for error, we must strengthen our ability to discern. In Second Timothy 3:7, the apostle describes the victims of sorcerers as people who are "ever learning" but "never coming to the knowledge of the truth." But to faithful Timothy Paul says, "But thou has fully known my doctrine."  It is as if he had said to Timothy, "I am not worried about you - you are too fully persuaded to be cheated out of the gospel now."

Gurnall believes that there are three types of people who are easily led away from the truth. The first person is one who is seduced by pleasing words and convincing speeches (Romans 16:18). This person means well but lacks the necessary discernment to tell an honest person from a trickster.  The second person is one who has never grown in the Word, has remained a child who continues to need to be fed milk rather than spiritual meat.  He is swayed by the slightest suggestion as he doesn't know enough of the Word of God with which to test what he's  been told.  The third person is the one who is spiritually unstable. False teachers are successful in misleading unstable souls, those whose understanding is not solidly anchored in the Word. They are at the mercy of the wind and drift further down the stream of what's the fashionable and acceptable trend of the times.

The second reason is so that we remain steadfast in the truth. We must make sure that we have an obedient heart otherwise our judgment can become questionable. We must embrace truth with an attitude of sincerity.  As we must live by our own faith, and not another's, it is necessary that we see the truth with our own eyes.  The truth we stand upon must not come from man, but from the Word of God. God believed it so important that we be established in truth that He gave us the Scriptures so that we can learn for ourselves how He would have us live. 

 Humility will help us stay on the path of truth. Gurnall warns us, "Pride can make you a stranger at the throne of grace and turn humble praying for truth into ambitious arguments....What we have (received) from God we cannot keep without Him. Cherish your closeness with Him or truth will not keep her intimacy with you very long. God is light, but you head for darkness as soon as pride suggests that you turn your back on Him."

The third, and possibly most important reason, is so that we can stand up to persecution. Satan tries to use persecution in order to separate us from truth through the fear of danger or even death. Truth is always being challenged, and we need to courageously profess it. "A person becomes unconquerable when he's empowered with a holy boldness from heaven to draw forth the sword of the Spirit....  Paul encouraged us in Hebrews 10:23, 'Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.' He was speaking to those who were avoiding assembling together with saints for fear of persecution, and he believed men who staggered spiritually like this stood next door to apostasy."  We are not to abandon our profession of faith (First Timothy 6:12). We are to put our lives on the line to keep it.  If we are Christians in our hearts, we must also be willing to profess it with our mouths.

Gurnall tells us "Truth is the great treasure which God delivers to His saints with serious instruction to keep it against all that try to undermine it. Some things we trust God with and some He trusts us with. The most important thing which we put into God's hand to be kept for us is our soul: 'He is able to keep that which I have committed upon him against that day' (Second Timothy 1:12). And God trusts us with His truth: 'Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints' (Jude 3)."  We must always be ready for persecution, as it lurks in the hearts of the unrighteous, those who deny God's truth.  

We must develop hearts that are not only aflame with love for the truth but are conformed to the truth. A heart that loves this world cannot have true love for the truth. Truth will transform us by the renewing of our mind and we'll bear fruit,  the result of our having the new nature which the Spirit of God has formed within us. Pray and ask God to give you a love for the truth, His truth. We must let our hearts be continually filled with the love of God, as this will help us develop a love for the truth within us. We must meditate on the qualities of truth, it's purity, and its ability to provide freedom and victory to all who seek it. Pray and ask Him to show you the truth so that you'll find freedom and victory for those areas that still have a hold of you.  We are promised in His Word, in John 8:32 that, "... you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

In chapter fifteen, we will look at the main enemy of truth, that being hypocrisy. Gurnall calls all of us to do a search of our hearts to see to what degree it dwells within us.  It can do serious damage to our belt of truth, and as a result, sabotage the effectiveness of all of our armor.