"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth…" (Ephesians 6:14)
The loinbelt was the least attractive, the least noticeable, and the most boring piece of armor that the Roman soldier wore. When a Roman soldier was wearing his beautiful breastplate of brass, who would notice his belt? If you were to describe a man’s clothing, would you begin with his belt? You can hardly even see it. You would probably start out by describing his jacket; then you’d move on to his shirt, his necktie, and even his shoes.
Your belt seems to be an insignificant little thing — until you take it off! Then you discover how important that belt really is! Take it off, and your pants might start falling down. And as your pants fall down, your shirt can come untucked. And if you’ve lost your pants and your shirt has come untucked, you look like a mess!
It’s easy to fall apart when you don’t have your belt on. You’ll spend most of your time trying to keep your pants pulled up. You won’t feel very confident, and you certainly won’t want to make any fast moves!
That is precisely what the loinbelt did for the Roman soldier — it held all the pieces of his armor together. He might be wearing all his great weaponry, but if his loinbelt was not in place, everything would fall apart. Thus, it was said that the loinbelt was the most vital part of all the weaponry the Roman soldier wore.
For example, the Roman soldier’s shield was attached to the loinbelt. If he had no loinbelt, he had no resting place for that massive shield. If he had no loinbelt, he had no place to hang his sword. If there was no loinbelt, there was nothing for his lance to rest upon. If he didn’t have a loinbelt, there was nothing to keep his breastplate from flapping in the wind. The loinbelt held it all together!
Thus, Paul says, “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth...” (Ephesians 6:14).
The majority of your spiritual armor is invisible. For instance, you can’t physically see the breastplate of righteousness. You can’t physically see your shoes of peace, your shield of faith, your helmet of salvation, your sword of the Spirit, or your lance of intercession. These are invisible weapons.
But you can see one weapon. In fact, there is only one spiritual weapon that is visible to the sight — the loinbelt of truth.
The loinbelt of truth is the written Word of God! This is the only spiritual weapon that has taken on a physical, natural form and has passed tangibly from the spirit realm into our hands! It is the most important piece of weaponry that we possess.
This was the Holy Spirit’s approach when He inspired Paul to write about our spiritual armor. He went straight to the middle of the soldier and began describing the armor of God by mentioning the soldier’s belt.
God is making a point here: He’s saying that the piece of armor that is in the middle of the man is the most important weapon to the man. If you take off that weapon, the man will fall apart.
Likewise, when you ignore the Word of God and cease to apply it to your life on a daily basis, you have willfully chosen to let your entire spiritual life come apart at the seams!
If you want to walk through life clothed in your spiritual armor, you must begin by taking up the Word of God and permanently affixing it to your life. You have to give it a central place and a dominant role, allowing it to be the “loinbelt” that holds the rest of your weaponry together. The Bible must be the governor, the law, the ruler, and “the final say-so” in your life!
This Week Honestly ask yourself these questions: What is my aim in life? Do I want to succeed spiritually? Do I want to defeat the Philistines that continually come against my life? Do I want to be spiritually equipped? Then commit yourself to a daily appointment with God’s Word to keep your life firmly held in place by the loinbelt of truth.
Prayer "Lord, I know that Your Word is the most important weapon You have given to me. Forgive me for the times I have not made it a priority in my life. Today I make the decision to never ignore Your Word again. Holy Spirit, help me stay true to this decision to open my Bible every day and take the time needed to wrap that Word around my life!"
Adapted from Dressed To Kill by Rick Renner. Join James and Betty Robison on Monday as they talk to Rick Renner about spiritual warfare on LIFE Today.
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