So stand firm and hold your ground, having tightened the wide band of truth (personal integrity, moral courage) around your waist. Ephesians 6:14a
We are to stand firm, hold our ground. We are to tighten the band (belt) of truth. The truth Paul is referring to here is absolute truth. Be honest with yourself. Be honest before God. Be honest before others. This type of truth is reflected in personal integrity and moral courage.
Personal integrity speaks of wholeness–soundness on the inside. Are you sound on the inside or are you merely a shell of righteousness on the outside with no real substance underneath? You are not fooling God with this facade you have built for yourself. He sees you. He sees the real you. He sees the empty shell of you.
Paul is reminding us to be sound. Fill yourself with the truth of God–His word, His statutes, His righteousness. Allow the Spirit of God to give you integrity, soundness that you might be a person whose words and actions are consistent, that you might be a person characterized by moral courage–bravery in your inner parts.
Moral courage is facing the truth about yourself and allowing God to come in and make the necessary changes. Moral courage makes the hard decisions of life and follows God. Moral courage is obedience in the tough spots, in the times when only God is watching and only God will know that you have lied or deceived or cut a corner or cheated.
Moral courage characterizes the man or woman of God. Moral courage says that I will not allow others to think more of me than God already knows of me. Truth. Not personal truth that shifts like the sands of the desert in the wind storm, but absolute truth–the truth of the One who created all things and knows all things and is in all things. Absolute Truth.
