"GIRDING OUR LOINS WITH TRUTH"
Larry Yarber
"Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth ...” (Ephesians 6:13-14).
In order to withstand the on-slaught of the world, the Christian must be willing to embrace the truth. The wise man said, "Buy the truth, and sell it not: also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding" (Proverbs 23:23). Jesus said, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (John 17:17). Love for truth will motivate us to worship, be saved, and to live our lives in accordance to God's Word. Without this love, we will not respect God's will and will ultimately perish in our own ways, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" ( Proverbs 14:12). It is the absence of truth, and lack of love for the truth, which causes men to perish, "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2nd Thessalonians 2:10-12).
Love for the truth will motivate honesty. Paul admonished the Ephesians to be truthful people, "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour; for we are members one of another" (Ephesians 4:25). Those who serve Satan have no problem lying to others because there is no truth in them. Jesus said unto those of His own day and age, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it" (John 8:44). Not too long ago, we were being told by those of the world that lying is healthy, and sometimes it's more moral and ethical to lie than to tell the truth. Those who believe and teach such were wrong then and they are still wrong today. The Bible says, "For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie" (Revelation 22:15).
In a vain attempt to circumvent the truth, man often tries to change it or rewrite it to fit his life-style, "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen" (Romans 1:25). We are warned as a Christian to correctly divide the Word of Truth, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2nd Timothy 2:15). To twist the truth to our own liking will only lead to our own demise and destruction, and that of others, "And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction" (2nd Peter 3:15-16). May we learn to say with Paul, "God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged" (Romans 3:4). Those who seek to change the truth, instead of accepting and conforming to it, will never find justification in their own ways and, both they, and those who follow their counsel, will be overthrown in the judgment day. As we arm ourselves for the battle of life, let us gird our loins with truth.