Devoted to Fellowship

Sometimes, the hardest portions of Scripture to study are the ones we've had memorized since childhood.  Once you see a passage a certain way, it's nearly impossible to see it any other way.  Nearly.  For example, when I read about Jesus teaching in the temple, in my mind, I see a stage and an audience. Never mind that the priests hated Jesus and wanted Him silent and dead.  Even though the last thing Jesus would have been granted in His time was a platform, that's still what I see.   When I read about Paul speaking to the church, or letters being read to the church, in my mind, I see buildings with carpeted altars and rows of chairs.  Never mind that the early church met in homes until a politician declared it some other way a couple of hundred years after the birth of our ekklesia.  Even though there is no such thing as a brick and mortar Christian church in Scripture, that's still what I see.   When I read about a tithe or giving, I see plates and buckets being passe

 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth.   TRUTH.  Imagine for a moment that your everyday clothing consisted of a shapeless dress called a tunic.  That one piece of fabric was responsible for covering your entire body and it hung to your knees.  If you were a Jewish man in the first century, this was what you put on every single day.  And if you had to work, or run to take care of an emergency, or Lord forbid, have to protect your home, your family or your country, you would pull up the length of your tunic and tuck it into your girdle.  If you were a laborer, you would tuck tools alongside your tunic into your girdle.  By doing this, you were "girding your loins," or getting ready for work or battle.   Gird your loins with truth.  Get ready for work with truth.  Get ready for battle with truth.  STAND FIRM therefore, BECAUSE YOU HAVE PREPARED YOURSELF WITH TRUTH.  If you study the rest of the Scriptures associated with this action in Ephesians 6, you'