Dear Amy,

Thank you so much for last week’s email⸺what a lot has been going on! I hope by now you’ve been enjoying your well-deserved break, and that the Lord is doing a work of refreshing and refilling.

In your email you referred to the armour of God, which has prompted me to spend some time reflecting on that. You know how I love to unpack these things! I’ll start with this:

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist …

― Ephesians 6:14a

How vital is truth. We’ll come to some specifics, but firstly, have you wondered why Paul represents truth as a belt? Why a belt?

Here’s what I found when I looked into it.

The cingulum was the traditional Roman soldier’s belt, which only soldiers were allowed to wear, and which they wore even when off duty. The leather straps (baltea) dangling from the front of the belt with their decorative studs (bullae) were the only insignia on their uniform. The belt was about identity.

And so it is with the belt of truth. It is our fundamental identity in Christ, upon which everything else hangs.

The Christian’s identity is in truth⸺truth in who we are and truth in our status before God, sinners saved by grace.

There is no difference … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

― Romans 3:22b-24

In the spiritual battle, when Satan accuses and we are tempted to despair of who we are, we must hold onto this truth: our Heavenly Father already knows the very worst about us, yet still he loves.

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

― Romans 5:8

This is our identity, and our identity is in Christ. Only by holding onto this are we able to stand firm in the spiritual battle.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

― 2 Corinthians 5:17

Stand firm in this truth, Amy, which is your identity in Christ! 🙏