"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth" (Ephesians 6:14).

The Christian must take seriously the spiritual battle that is raging around about us on a daily basis. No doubt each of us daily prepares physical attire by carefully selecting from our wardrobe as we consider the environment and agenda facing us for the day. In Ephesians 6 Paul urges the believer to also make careful preparation by dressing ourselves spiritually. The very first piece of clothing listed here is the undergarment of truth. Truth is foundational to all else that we would engage to do. Shouldn't we begin our day by seeking the revealed truth found only in God's Word?

The wise king penned these words to his young heir: "Let not mercy and truth forsake thee" (Proverbs 3:3). The thought here is that we would lose our grip on truth and veer off the path. Then we would stand naked, forsaken of our precious garment of verity. Revelation 3 records the sad reality of believers who were ignorant of their own lack of spiritual attire: "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (v.17). The Laodiceans were citizens of a wealthy city and they had deluded themselves into thinking they lacked nothing. However, they were given the opportunity to buy clean, white garments from the God of truth.

Proverbs 23:23 commands us to "Buy the truth, and sell it not" This precious garment of truth is our safekeeping. "Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me" (Psalm 40:11). Have we grounded our worldview in the immovable foundation of truth? In an age of relativism and the exaltation of man's theories, "His truth shall be thy shield and buckler" (Psalm 91:4). DW