Dress for Success Part 2

Last post, I left off talking about putting on the whole Armor of God. As a reminder the scripture is taken from Ephesians 6: 11-18. Again, this is where the apostle Paul is telling us to dress ourselves with the Armor of God.

Picking up where we left off last time, we are going to start at verse 14. Here we see the first couple pieces of God's armor, which is the "sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness." First let's look at the words sturdy and truth. When you think of sturdy, you might think of other words like durable, strong, solid, secure. That's exactly what the truth is. It's solid, secure, durable, strong. What the truth does is gives us a solid ground to stand on by putting whatever it is "out there" and showing that we aren't worried about what people will say. What a lie does is try to put up a front. A front that will inevitably fall and leave us exposed anyways.

Now this verse also mentions putting on the body armor of God's righteousness. When we put on the body armor of God's righteousness, we are putting on morality, justice, decency, and honesty. This goes hand in hand with the sturdy belt of truth. I'll use decency as an example. Say you're wearing a pair of pants that are just a little too big. If you don't wear a belt, then they might fall off or slide down. Either way, you're going to be showing your backside. But if you wear a belt to hold up those pants, then you're making sure that you stay decent. The same thing applies with the body armor of God's righteousness and the truth. To make sure we're not exposing our self in a spiritually indecent manner (or showing our backside) we use the truth to help hold up the righteousness we are putting on.

For example if we are truthful about having issues but praying that we continue to live right, then we are more likely to continue living righteously. The Bible even tells us how the truth can help us continue to live righteously. It can guide and lead you to God (Psalm 43:3). It can guide and teach you, bringing you to hope in God (Psalm 25:5). It also has the power to set you free from the bondage of sin (John 8:31-35). If we are not truthful about having issues, then we are less likely to continue living righteously. Take a look at these verses from the Bible. It says that some people were lead astray from God as a result of others distorting the truth (Acts 20:30). It also says in Romans 2:8 that "...he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness." That's why it's called the STURDY BELT of truth. Based on the scriptures above, that's how the truth will hold up the body armor of God's righteousness.

I'm going to stop there for now. I will talk about the remaining pieces of the Armor of God later today (2/4/09). I pray that Part 2 has been a blessing to you. Come back for Dress for Success Part 3 as I bring it all together. Thank you for coming by again. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. God Bless.