Putting on and keeping on the full armor of God is all about exposure. In the case of the belt of truth it is exposure to The Truth. While it is true that the whole Bible is The Truth, it is also true that Jesus is The Truth. Building a faith relationship with Jesus is greatly assisted by letting the Holy Spirit take us through the life and ministry of Jesus found in the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John help us get to know Jesus on a closer and more intimate way. Through the Gospels, the Holy Spirit will show you how Jesus acts, how He thinks, how He talks, and how He wants to live His life in front of you. It is this example that helps us cooperate with Jesus as He starts living His life in and through us. He is our ultimate example of how to put on, keep on, and use the belt of truth. Let’s take a look at some important questions.

• How did Jesus arrive at various decisions?
• Where did Jesus look for help?
• Who did Jesus seek advice from?
• On what did Jesus spend His time and money?

The belt of truth is put on as we yield to Christ’s words and example. In other words, we are putting on the life and patterns of Jesus in the area of The Truth.

Col 3:2 (NIV) Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Putting on and keeping on the full armor of God is also about percentages. The big issue we all have to face is how much of a percentage of time, effort, and money we spend with Jesus and the things of God. Then we have to compare it with how much of a percentage of time, effort, and money we spend with the issues of this world. It can get really offensive to us when the things of God start to challenge our fun, pleasure, and entertainment. The belt of truth is designed to resist the philosophies of the world. When we start comparing our daily activities with the Word of The Truth, it can really upset us. It especially upsets us when the belt of truth starts resisting the “real” activities of our life.

Mat 5:32 (NIV) But I (Jesus) tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.

Many of us have sat in front of a TV and lived vicariously with someone having an affair. Their spouse is a total jerk that mistreats them all the time. Then one day the abused spouse finds a wonderful person who understands them, loves them, and treats them with respect. They don’t kiss or have sex at first. It is just a simple friendship that is very enjoyable and extremely meaningful. They were made for each other. There is just one problem. They are both married to total jerks. In other words, they are both already married to someone else. Days and weeks go by as they continue to meet and really enjoy each other’s company.

Meanwhile back at their respective homes, their two total-jerk spouses reach a whole new level of jerkdom. Innocently, during one of those special “friendship” meeting while their faces are close together they start moving their lips toward the kissing position. Do we all think: “Hey, wait a minute! You both are married! You shouldn’t do that!”? Or, do we think: “Go ahead and kiss. You were made for each other. After all your spouses are total jerks”?

Now that we can see the point, are we upset yet? Television, internet, fictional books, Hollywood philosophies, and many magazines all live in the world of fiction. There are things we watch, listen to, and read that we would not be willing to share with the people at church, show on the overhead screen at church, or play on the speakers at church. Why? They wouldn’t be appropriate in the church-life setting. But, we often feel they are okay in our “real” life setting.

The belt of truth was designed to resist anything that contaminates our life. Typically it will resist anything that contradicts the Word of God on the internet, shown on TV, printed in books and magazines, and presented over the radio. The only reason it sometimes doesn’t is because it only resists them if we want them to be resisted.