When John saw "One like the Son of Man" on Patmos, he noticed something specific: Christ wore a golden belt around his chest. A belt! Because Jesus never took his work clothes off. Not once. While he walked this earth, he stood always ready to serve. And now, before the eternal throne, he hasn't stopped his holy work. Like a high priest wearing the sacred girdle of the ephod, he keeps working for us.

And thank God for that! This is one of our greatest securities: he lives forever to intercede for us. Jesus is never off duty. His robes are never loosened as if his work were finished. No! He diligently carries on the cause of his people.

But notice: it's a golden belt. This shows the superiority of his service, the royalty of his person, the dignity of his position, the glory of his reward. He no longer cries from the dust. Now he pleads with authority. A King as well as a Priest. Your case could not be in better hands than those of our enthroned Melchizedek.

Now, our Lord sets the example for all of us. We must never take off our belts either. This is not the time for lying down at ease! This is the season of service and warfare. We need to pull the belt of truth tighter and tighter around ourselves.

And what a belt it is! Golden. It will be your richest ornament. And you desperately need it. Because a heart that isn't cinched tight with the truth as it is in Jesus—a heart not secured by the faithfulness the Spirit creates—will get tangled up in this life's affairs. It will be tripped up by the snares of temptation.

Listen: it does you no good to own a Bible if you don't wrap it around yourself like a belt. Let it surround your entire nature. Let it keep every part of your character in place. Let it pull your whole being together into something solid and ready.

If Jesus in heaven hasn't taken off his belt, how much less should we take off ours here on earth? Stand firm, then. Keep your belt buckled tight with truth.