The Belt
The first item applied by the Roman soldier was the great belt which, along with the breastplate, formed the body armour. The tunic underneath would be gathered, or 'girded up', into it so that nothing was flapping about loose. Rugby enthusiasts will be familiar with the dangers of loose bits of clothing hanging down that can be grabbed hold of. When Paul speaks of being girded up, therefore, he speaks of being self-disciplined, concentrated on one objective, with nothing to impede or drag us down, nothing superfluous to get in the way. It is the same idea conveyed by the writer to the Hebrews when he instructs his hearers to ' throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles ...'
The belt is described in the NIV as being the Belt of Truth but 'truth' here is not a reference to the Word of God (which is represented by the sword) but to 'truthfulness' or 'sincerity' (integrity, where the nature matches the words, genuine, real). Whilst sincerity can be misplaced, as Matthew Henry comments 'there can certainly be no true religion without sincerity.' The Apostle Paul emphasises the importance of sincerity when we draw near to God (e.g. 1 Tim 1:5, also Heb 10:22); and approaching God with sincere repentence and singleminded seeking is often shown in scripture to be the starting point for finding salvation.
God has said that 'You will find me when you seek me, if you seek me with all your heart...' (Jeremiah 29:13 quoting Deuteronomy 4:29) We need to be whole hearted, singleminded and genuine in our seeking - whether that be when we are just setting out as Christians or are grappling with God after many years on the journey of faith. The Christian life requires the same kind of total focus on the objective, discipline and energy that elite athletes have to exhibit. If we are just drifting passively along, enjoying the occasional spiritual fix and living much like anyone else around us our Christianity may just be a sham.
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