Belt of Truth

We live in a society right now that is trying to water down the gospel and the entire Bible. The reason or idea behind it is to make it more digestible for people today. Let me tell you, truth was never supposed to be an easy pill to swallow. Truth convicts and reveals things we'd rather keep hidden. If we continue on the path to twist the Bible to make it digestible, we don't have the Bible. Yes, the Bible goes against our human nature, I think that actually makes it more believable, more true. Living for Christ is meant to seem upside down to the world. When we begin to force the Bible to be "less offensive" to sin, we are left with no Bible.

Many Christians today are listening to the worlds outside opinion on the Bible, rather than reading their Bibles themselves for Truth. The issue the world has with Christianity and the Bible is that it calls out sin. The world does not want to be told they are wrong, who does? The problem is that the world is trying to make Christians guilty and for many, it's working. This is where we get churches who start preaching a false gospel, simply because the world doesn't want to hear the true gospel. The Bible will never sit well with the world. The church needs to understand that. The Christian needs to understand that. Do you think Paul thought to sugar coat Romans so that he didn't offend anyone? No. Go read Romans. It is hard truth, left and right. But it is true. Truth is loving. It may not FEEL loving to the ones receiving it, but it is. Thank goodness truth is NOT based on our feelings, contrary to what the world believes.

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3:18

It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

1 Corinthians 13:6

It, being love, rejoices with the truth, not at wrongdoing. Modern churches and Christians are rejoicing and championing wrongdoing. Why? Because they are afraid of the resentment of the truth. Without truth, the whole thing falls apart. In Ephesians 6, the armor of God is talked about. Truth is referred to as "the belt of truth." Think of a belt, many wear it to hold everything else up, or to bring an outfit together. Truth holds everything else together. If that crumbles, nothing else will stand. As Christians, we must consider our beliefs. Consider what we are sharing with others. Is it truth or is it feelings? We deceive ourselves. We are not trustworthy. Our feelings are deceitful and often lead us into sin instead of out of it. So, would we trust ourselves more than God? No. Even when we THINK we know better, God's way is better than that. The Bible tell us that our heart is deceitful above all else (Jer. 17:9), that whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool (Pro. 28:26, and the ways and thoughts of the Lord are higher than ours (Is. 55:9). We need to stop trying to break the Bible into baby sized pieces and throw away the rest. When we do that, we are throwing away critical parts of the Bible. Many churches and Christians are playing God as they remove or falsely interpret parts of the Bible in order to make it "fit" into the worlds narratives. We are at a crossroads as Christians. The world says you need to be accepted, but the Bible says that if you follow Christ, you won't be. The false gospel begins when the churches and Christians try to have both. You cannot serve two masters. You're either all in with God or you're fully out. He makes that clear. The Bible does not make sense, unless it has all of its parts. Stop cherry picking verses from the Bible, eat the whole cherry pie! I'm constantly convicted of things when reading the Bible. Verses make me uncomfortable, because it's so different than my flesh, than what I want to do. The church and Christian need to stop seeking to please both God and the world. The devil knows we cannot serve two masters, but if he can convince us we are able to, he has successfully made us put God on the backburner and the world as our greatest concern. That's just the beginning. Speak truth and speak it in love. A watered down gospel is no gospel at all. Gospel means "good news." Why would we ever water down good news? Because people think they get to define good news and truth, even though God has already defined it? The world does not get to redefine things the Bible makes clear. Jesus is Truth, which means God is Truth. The world does not just get to say He isn't. They can say it all they want, but that does not make it true. Truth is truth, it does not budge for feelings or opinion.

You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.

Matt. 10:22

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Cor. 1:18