Liar, liar, pants on fire. Paul gives us some advice about avoiding the embarrassment of being exposed in Ephesians 6 Quick Hit! 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, Where did that little kids saying come from? Probably just a rhyme, but imagine the embarrassment of having your pants burnt up and everyone looking at you. As a kid, I had a dream a couple of times that I was at school and could not find my clothes. Totally embarrassing. That is what happens when we are dishonest. When we are dishonest, we are totally exposed and embarrassed. How do we avoid this? Be honest and truthful all the time. Paul says truthfulness is like a belt or girdle. If it is a belt, then it keeps our pants up. If it is a girdle, then it protects us. Either way, we avoid embarrassment. Simple application – always tell the truth and always be truthful in your business dealings. Want to dive deeper? Read on. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Meaning – In this passage, Paul gives us characteristics that need to be in our lives for us to be able to stand against the persecution and schemes of the devil. The first one is truth. We are to be truthful and honest in everything we do. We are to be honest in our speech. What comes out of our mouth should always be true. Second, we should always be honest in our business dealings. When you are buying or selling something, the other person should never wonder if they are being ripped off. Then notice that Paul compares truthfulness to a belt or some translations say girdle. Either way, by being truthful we are protecting our most sensitive and vulnerable parts. Application – For application, I want to look at Paul’s comparison to truth being a garment that protects our groin. If you want to render someone unable to fight, then you kick them in this most sensitive area and watch them drop to the ground and be totally unable to respond. In the same way, when we are seen as dishonest, we lose all effectiveness. I have told you, I work with people who scheme and scam to make it look like they are doing more than they actually are. They turn off their monitors and leave their computers on. It makes it look like they are working away, when in fact, they are driving home in their car. Everything they do or say is now questioned in my mind. Because they have shown themselves dishonest in one area, now I wonder where else there is no truthfulness. The same is true for you and I. If we are seen as untruthful in any way, it ruins our ability to share Christ with someone. There is no replacement for being truthful. It is the character trait you cannot fake. Always be truthful and always be honest. Please share this devotional so your friends can be challenged as well. Hope you have a great day. On Facebook - https://facebook/practicaldevotional On Blogspot - practicaldevotional.blogspot/
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 06:48:08 +0000
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