My husband has a pretty crazy sense of humor. When we were planning our wedding, his interest was piqued with the music portion. What song I was going to walk down the isle to, what songs were we going to have our special dances to, and so on. He got a kick out of nominating songs for our first dance! While he knew certain suggestions would be vetoed, He loved presenting them. One in particular that I’ll never forget was the song, “Pants” by Don Francisco. Here’s a link to that song: Pants. I shouldn’t have to tell you, but it was vetoed. Interestingly enough, I don’t remember the song for our first dance, but “Pants” is still remembered.
That song had nothing to do with the size of the pants – I just found it hilarious and wanted to share. One of my grandfathers, Papa (he passed away in January 2009), was a very large man. He had so many health issues that compounded other health issues and it all led to him being overweight and in a lot of pain and discomfort. He was the head of our family all the way up till he passed away. Many in our family have tried to fill his shoes in certain ways, but no one could ever lead the family the way Papa led the family. No one could wear his pants, so to speak. Seriously – no one could, really, because they were so big! A belt might keep them at your waist, but there was no chance they would stay without one.
My post last week was on the Belt of Truth that is mentioned in Ephesians 6:14. With the belt buckled around our waist, we’re able to hold up something we could never hold up on our own. Now remember that it’s called the Belt of Truth. It’s not a question of what truth, but it’s a who truth. Jesus is Truth (John 14:6). What is Truth holding up? He is holding up our righteousness. Righteousness is a BIG thing! It’s something we were never going to be able to obtain on our own, in our own strength, or by our own merits. It’s something that was obtained for us, and given as a free gift from God. The Belt of Truth holds that in place because we can’t hold it up without that Truth.
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” Ephesians 6:14-15 (NIV)
While all of the pieces of armor are essential for living a life of victory, I find it telling that these three pieces are mentioned first and in the same sentence. Yes, I know that sentence structure changes a bit in translation, but I also believe that God knows what He’s doing better than we can fathom to guess. We discussed the Belt of Truth last week and, if you missed it, I encourage you to take a look: The Truth of the Belt. As I shared last week, the Belt of Truth holds it all together.
While the Belt helps to protect the organs that filter out waste (the lies of the devil) and protects us from being spiritually sterilized, the Breastplate of Righteousness protects other vital organs. If I were to ask what organs the breastplate protects, it would be fairly easy to guess that the heart and the lungs would be at the top of the list. I’m not going to linger here, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the lungs. I shared some time ago about something that jumped out at me from scripture: when God created the world, out of everything He created, He only breathed life into one thing – man. We have His very life breath in our lungs! I can’t help but think that’s worth protecting. Keep that nugget, but let’s move on the the other most popular organ: the heart.
While we have a tendency to immediately assume that the heart is all about love and romance, God designed us with greater depths than that. The heart is our inner self, our core, and some scholars have even referred to the heart as our control center. Everything we do, how we act, and the directions we follow comes from our heart. The Bible has quite a lot to say about the heart. After all, it’s vital to our survival.
A Roman soldier in the 1st century typically had a breastplate like the picture included above. The material was made of bronze or iron and weighed about 40 pounds. It wasn’t rough or jagged metal – but polished – and it had to be cleaned on a daily basis to keep it in functioning order. This armor that Paul mentioned in his letter to the church in Ephesus was polished for a strategic reason. When in battle, it reflected light which would slow and dissuade the enemy. As Christians, we are supposed to be a reflection of Jesus, not the world. We’re not called to reflect the sun, but the Son. Have you ever been driving and had the sun reflect off of another vehicle on the road and you felt almost blinded by it? I remember getting stuck behind a small pickup truck and the sun was hitting the back window at just the right angle. I couldn’t keep my eyes open! I had to make adjustments in order to safely continue down the road. Being blinded can certainly dissuade the enemy’s attack strategy.
II Corinthians 5:21 explains that we are the righteousness of God because of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. The Breastplate of Righteousness is, like the Belt of Truth, Jesus! What if you had the Breastplate, but not the Belt? I gave my heart to God when I was a child, but while I had a few nuggets of truth (that God loved me, that Jesus died for me, etc.), I also picked up an emphasis on having to maintain my righteousness through good works. Don’t get me wrong – we should do the right thing! The consequences we face in this life are not pleasant when we make unwise choices. But we shouldn’t do the right thing out of fear of losing our salvation. We should choose to do the right thing as a response to our loving Father instead of a means of maintaining our salvation (an impossible task). It’s a condition of the heart – that vital organ that needs to be protected. If we don’t know the Truth of being made right by Jesus and not our own self-salvation, our Breastplate of Righteousness will not stay in place.
When you know that you’ve been made right by Jesus and not through your own efforts, when God directs you to do something, you’re not going to examine whether or not you’re worthy because you’ll know you were already made worthy. When your inner self – your heart that’s pumping blood to every part of your body – is covered in Christ and not in a perceived notion of salvation-maintaining through works to keep you worthy, the devil won’t be able to penetrate your armor. The Belt of Truth will be firmly holding the Breastplate of Righteousness in place. And without the issue of doubting your salvation, you’ll be able to appreciate and utilize the next bit of equipment God has provided.
After living in Alaska for ten years, I learned that ice cleats are wonderful! They help to give traction while walking in icy conditions (like from your front door to your car). I also remember from my years playing soccer that cleats are vitally important to allow quick changes in directions without losing speed. No slipping on damp, grassy fields. Well, the Roman soldiers also had shoes that had a type of cleat. For a time they may have been pieces of stone, other times they were pieces of metal, but they both had the same function: give the soldier traction. This would aid in speed and agility, being able to make quick maneuvers without losing a foothold, and their functionality didn’t stop there. Notice how they’re sandals – completely breathable. This feature helped to cut down on blisters so the soldier could really go the distance. And what are we told about the shoes?
Our feet are to be fitted with readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Again, this points back to Jesus… We have a covenant of peace between us and our Creator (Isaiah 54:9-10) all because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross. With this Truth (belt) of our Righteousness (breastplate), we can boldly be Ready (shoes) to do whatever God directs us to do without doubting that we’ll be victorious! We are blessed and highly favored, above and not beneath, the head and not to tail – God will bless whatever we put our hand to – and we are always going to be victorious! That’s the Gospel – the Good News! When you know the Truth of your Righteousness, you’ll have Readiness to share the Gospel of Peace.
Join me next week as I unpack more of the Armor that God has equipped us with, and I encourage you to inspect the armor we’ve gone over – the Belt of Truth, the Breastplate of Righteousness, and the Shoes that afford you Readiness. Truth is vital because if you don’t know the Truth, none of the other pieces will be part of the equation. On the flip side, when you’re properly equipped, nothing can stand in your way to living the victorious life that Jesus died to give you.