Ephesians 6:14 (NKJV) 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
This week our time has been spent looking at the first element of the Armor of God listed in Ephesians 6. This armor is designed to keep us strong in our battle against the powers and principalities we face in our conflict between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. This first piece of the armor is one that might seem insignificant in many ways. However, it is vital to the function of the armor as a whole. Paul calls it the belt of truth.
As we have studied the function of this belt was to keep the rest of the armor in place, provide easy access to the weapons and tools the soldier required, protect areas of extraordinary weakness and keep the soldier’s or worker’s clothing from becoming entangled in his environment. This is the function of truth in the life of the Christian.
We have looked at the nature of the truth that makes up the belt in our armor and found that it is not the absolute truth of the bible, but the inward truth spoken of in Psalm 51. In his psalm of repentance, David acknowledges that God requires truth in the inward parts. That is the truth we need to keep the rest of our armor in place. The elements we have studied so far are honesty, integrity and character. Today I want to look at one more element of inward truth. That element is faithfulness.
Faithfulness is the element that causes us to be consistent in maintaining inward truth. It might be likened to the buckle on the belt. We may have a very good belt which is capable of doing all the things that a belt should do, but if we cannot fasten this belt around us securely, it will do no good. The buckle or clasp is vital to the function of the belt.
In the same way, we may be honest, have integrity and develop character, but without faithfulness, none of these characteristics will be effective because they will not be consistent. Faithfulness is the ability to be consistent in any area of life. Faithfulness as an element of inward truth will cause us to be consistent in our application of honesty, integrity and character.
We use the term faithful in relation to marriage. If a man or woman has an affair with someone other than their spouse, they are unfaithful. They have broken trust with their spouse. They have been inconsistent in keeping the vows they made to their husband or wife at marriage. This unfaithfulness breaks the covenant of marriage and covenant is serious business to God.
When we are unfaithful in our walk of truth, we break another trust. We compromise the covenant we have with the Lord by laying down part of our armor and thus making ourselves vulnerable to the attack of the enemy. God provided us what we need to be protected as part of our covenant and when we are unfaithful, we telling the Lord we do not need his provision. Since truth is part of the character and nature of God, we are also choosing to live outside his ways, which is also a breach of covenant. We must be faithful.
We have studied faithfulness from the perspective of the local church and Christian service. A faithful person is one that we can depend upon to do the things they are asked to do. They are consistent in attendance and support. I have used the analogy of a car. We have all had cars that we were not sure would start or that we were uncertain would make it on a long trip. A faithful car is one that starts every time and one that makes all the way on the journey.
It is easy to see how this applies in the local church, marriage or even the secular work world. How does faithfulness apply to the belt of truth? The answer is that we cannot be truthful part of the time; we must be truthful all the time. Faithfulness, or consistency, keeps our belt of truth tightly fastened and in place.
It is important to be honest in our dealings with others, God and ourselves. However, it is not enough to be honest most of the time. We must be honest all the time. We must be faithful in our honesty. If we are not, it is like having a faulty buckle on our belt. Our pants may fall down at a most inopportune time.
When we combine faithfulness with our honesty, our belt stays in place and our protection is secure. The same is true for all the other elements of truth we have discussed. We cannot have integrity in one area but not another. We must be faithful to have integrity in all areas. We cannot maintain good character most of the time, we must have it all of the time. Our faithfulness brings consistency to our belt of truth.
If we commit to faithfulness, some will say we are being extreme. They will argue that we do not have to be so rigid in our walk of truth. I would counter that we live in a war zone and extreme conditions require extreme actions. I want my belt on and my armor tight. It may not seem that I need it all the time, but when I do need it, I do not want it compromised.
On the other hand, it is a sad thing that faithfulness in our society would seem extreme. Faithfulness to God is the natural order of things. It would never occur to him to be anything but faithful. Faithfulness is his nature and society works better when it is the nature we choose as well. How much pain and suffering does unfaithfulness in marriage cause every year? Yet we tend to see divorce as inevitable.
Some say, “People fall out of love so what are they supposed to do? Should they live unhappy lives?” Certainly there are situations that make it impossible for people to stay married, but the desires of the flesh do not fit into that category. We stay faithful because it is the right thing to do and because God will honor it. In the end, faithfulness will produce happiness on a much deeper level than anything the flesh can offer.
Tighten you belt of truth. Make sure you undergird honesty, integrity and character with faithfulness. If you do, you will be ready for any attack of the devil. You will also be ready to go on the offensive against him when the Lord commands that we charge.
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