“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness…” Ephesians 6:14
Back in high school, about a century ago, I had my life all planned out: finish high school, go to art school, become an illustrator for Disney, or start my own comic script rivaling Peanuts in popularity. Disney and Schultz were my gods back then. I had tons of books on art and animation, I watched Disney cartoons my eyes devouring all the information they could: poses, facial expressions, making the impossible seem plausible. I had tons of paperback books with the Charlie Brown comic strips. I collected Disney comic books with the same devotion my sister collected pop star posters and Tiger Beat magazines. I was going to work for Disney! I was going to make draw funny pictures! I was going to be the world’s greatest funny artist!!!
A few decades later, I can attest that dream never happened. I don’t even have a job in the art field. And know what? I’m OK with that. I like my life.
A lot of things survived my high school days, though. I still have the art books. I still have my Disney comic book collection, and Charlie Brown / Snoopy books. And I still have my drawings of Sir Pip.
My Rediscovery of Sir Pip
Sir Pip was a cartoon character I invented my junior year. A cross somewhere between Marvin the Martin and Mickey Mouse, the few dozen drawings I made of him featured the little hero and his sword in one shot comedy situations. I uncovered the drawings as I was going through boxes of old stuff from my younger days. Looking over the drawings, one thought came to mind: man, these were pathetic! Pip didn’t even have real armor, just something resembling a leotard and Mickey Mouse shoes! His helmet was kind of Roman-ish, but other than that and his sword, he was totally defenseless.
The Belt of Truth
Coincidence or not, this month in church, our pastor Teddy Fairchild began preaching a series on the armor of God. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5tGNOXRN2U Paul’s description of the armor was based on the armor of the Roman Centurions that occupied the holy lands at the time. They were well known and feared. The first piece of the armor mentioned is the Belt of Truth. All the other armor is attached to this belt, so it has to be strong to withstand the weight of everything else. This belt is the word of God. God calls us to have it cinched tight at all times, ready for battle.
The belt on my armor was tested about ten years ago when the church we were attending voted to allow gay people to become priests in our congregations, and to perform gay marriages. My brain seized up when I heard that. We loved our church family! We’d been attending for years! But my brain kept repeating “this isn’t right, this isn’t right!”
“Just give it a few months.” People suggested. But do you understand what that means? The Bible is very clear that homosexuality is a sin, and now my church was asking me to pretend it wasn’t. Not only that, but they were fine with people who openly engage in this sin becoming their leaders, and the congregation would be blessing and celebrating the union of people who wanted to disobey God in this sin.
I was being asked to loosen the belt.
Have you ever noticed how much society wants that belt loosened? Gay marriage – loosen the belt a little. Transgenderism – let it out another notch. Legalized marijuana – let it out some more. Drag queen story hour – just a bit looser…
At some point you will loosen the belt to the point it falls off. And once the belt falls, all the other pieces will come crashing down with it. You are then open for attack and Satan moves in for the kill. Christianity, as you once knew it, dies on the altar of social pressure, and you are left with nothing but leotards and Mickey Mouse shoes.
So, yes, we’re now at church that is more in tune with core Christian values and keeping the belt tightened in The Word.
Back to little Pip. Kiddo, you’re about to get an upgrade…