Righteous Swag

Ephesians 6:14

...with the breastplate of righteousness in place.

The Breastplate of Righteousness
The breastplate was one of the single most important elements of the Roman armor. If any soldier decided not to wear their breastplate they were asking to be killed. The breastplate protected the vital organs. Many commanders would also wear it for swagger.

Righteousness means to be just or act justly. Isaiah 59 says that the Lord puts on "righteousness as a breastplate" and goes into battle against injustice and corruption, restoring peace and order to the land. God offers us His righteousness and the duties that go along with it.

Sometimes as Christians we can assume that our religion makes us righteous but that is NOT the case.

James 1:27 says,
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Our duties in righteousness is to "look after" which means protect, stand up for, support, and be a guardian of. To act, think, walk, and talk justly. This involves getting involved. No one believes a person to be righteous if they don't act accordingly.

You keep yourself from being polluted by guarding your own heart. You can only guard your heart with something that is as pure as righteousness. To be righteous a person must have integrity; publicly and privately. A righteous person is not enticed to lay it down for momentary pleasures.

Having the breastplate of righteousness in place means that it is secured; not in oneself but in Jesus. It is a command to never retreat. There is no rear defense. Nothing to guard the back. Only to engage in the mission. Righteousness must stand the test of time. It must endure to the end. When the battle gets difficult they don't run they raze hell.

Those who stay true to righteousness definitely have some swag.

Keep the Belt Tight

Ephesians 6:14

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist...

The Belt of Truth
When preparing for battle, the belt would have been the first piece of protective armor put on. It was more than a strap around the waist. It had other leather straps with brass plates connected to them which hung over the groin area of the soldier.

Belts were used to tie up the garments so they would not get in the way while fighting. Without the belt the armor becomes weak and wobbly. The same goes with the truth. If we don't have a definite absolute truth everything else becomes weak, awkward and a burden. The call to already have "buckled" is a call to already be prepared. You start with the truth. You can't go any further if you don't have the truth.

This truth is not relative. This isn't theology or doctrine. It is the one simple truth that everything else hangs on. JESUS. In the movie A Few Good Men Colonel Jessep says, "You can't handle the truth!" I believe when we try to add so many other things (theologies and doctrines) to the truth of Jesus whether they're indeed the truth or not it begins to make the truth harder to handle. The person of Jesus begins to get blurred. We are meant to be replicas of Jesus and a replica is no good if it has things added to it based on a belief about the original.

Jesus said that He is the truth. There is no other truth besides Him.

In our faith we cannot get anything else right if our understanding of Jesus is askew. It doesn't matter what you believe about the rapture, if you are pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, or about speaking in tongues, and all the other debatable topics. They come second to Jesus and a far second at best.

We cannot do Christianity right with a false Christ. An image of a true Christian is found in Christ. We find our purpose, our mission, our hope, our joy, our peace, our freedom and our life in Jesus.

So make sure the belt is tight and you'll be able to stay in the fight.