Do we walk in darkness, or light?

TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 John 1-2; Psalm 36

TO CHEW ON: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:6,7


Our reading talks about two ways to live: “Walk in darkness” and “walk in light.” These are metaphors. What do they mean?

The Zondervan Study Bible notes define both (emphases added):

To “walk in darkness” denotes a life characterized by wickedness and ignorance and an unwillingness to be open toward God and his revelation in Christ—lest one’s sinful behaviour be exposed.”

John actually quotes Jesus Himself on what walking in darkness is about:

“‘For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed’” - John 3:19.

Here’s the old secrecy over disobedience cropping up again that began way back in the Genesis garden (Genesis 3:8-10).

To “walk in light” denotes a life characterized by truth and holiness and a willingness to be open to God and his revelation, resulting in fellowship with one another and with God.”

How do we, in our everyday lives, walk in light?

A start, I believe is to be open with God—to let Him search us through the Bible and in prayer and keep no secrets from Him. We can express our doubts, fears, issues, and questions to Him. When He shows us attitudes to change and exposes the times we’ve sinned, we acknowledge, confess, repent, make restitution (or whatever is required). We let Him shine light into the farthest, darkest recesses of our hearts to show us to ourselves so we can renounce all darkness and live in light. (I’m thinking this may take years as, in my experience, God deals with us in layers to get to core of our onion hearts.)

A wonderful side benefit of living in light is how it smooths our relationships with fellow-Christians: “… we have fellowship with one another…”


PRAYER: Dear Father, help me to walk in light by being completely open and honest with You. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 36

The Bible Project VIDEO: 1-3 John (Read Scripture Series)



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Rebuke

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Titus 1-3; Psalm 23

TO CHEW ON: "For there are many insubordinate both idle talkers and deceivers ... whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain .... Therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith." Titus 1:10-11,13

A friend was sharing the story of her spiritual journey with me the other day. She told of a time, about a year into her walk with Christ, when substitute teaching jobs kept coming up on the day of her women's Bible study. Feeling the need for more money, she almost always accepted them.

One day when she again phoned her Bible study leader to tell her she would be away, the woman confronted her. "You know," she said, "you're a new Christian and you need this Bible study. You need to get off the fence."

"My leader's words really made me think," my friend said. "We don't reprove or rebuke people much these days."

My friend is right. Rebuke, reproof, confrontation—whatever word you use for it—our tolerant society isn't very tolerant of such corrective speech. But this is what Paul told Titus to do when he encountered the idle talkers [mataiologos  = speaking that lacks reason and worth and gives evidence of an undisciplined lifestyle - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1720] and the deceivers who influenced entire families against the gospel with motives of personal gain.

Titus isn't the only place the Bible mentions rebuke/reproof.

• Proverbs speaks of the people who rebuke the wicked as having delight and gaining a blessing (Proverbs 24:25). However, the writer is realistic and also warns of the bad reception such rebuke may cause (Proverbs 9:7).

• Luke tells us to rebuke with care, and forgive when the wrongdoer repents (Luke 17:3).

• Paul tells his readers to expose the deeds of darkness (Ephesians 5:11). He lists "rebuke" as one of the routine duties of the pastor, along with "preach, exhort, convince, and teach" (2 Timothy 4:2). He tells Timothy to rebuke publicly so that onlookers will examine their own actions (1 Timothy 5:20) and Titus to rebuke sharply (our reading) and with authority (Titus 2:15).

Have you ever been rebuked? Have you rebuked someone? Maybe this is a biblical practice we should do more of, with the intention of helping people mature (Titus 1:13) and as an expression love to fellow members of God's family (1 Corinthians 4:14).

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to have the courage to rebuke a fellow Christian if there is a need. But more, help me to accept rebuke. Help me to see it as an act of love. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 23

The Bible Project VIDEO: Titus (Read Scripture Series)

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Insulting the guests

Jesus Eats With Publicans and Sinners - by Alexandre Bida

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 9-10; Psalm 85

TO CHEW ON: "And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, 'Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?' When Jesus heard that, He said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.' " Matthew 9:11,12

Jesus and His disciples were socializing with known sinners. This dinner party was in Matthew's own home (this is clear from the Mark 2:13-17 and Luke 5:27-32 versions of this story, where Matthew is called "Levi").

You've got to admire Matthew's humility when he reports Jesus' defense of why He's associating with, what his critics consider, riffraff.  Jesus says they are sick and need a doctor, sinners who need to repent, unrighteous who need mercy. He's basically describing Matthew and current company. How would you or I feel if a dinner guest said that about us and our guests?

But it seems Matthew had no problem with it. He had faced himself in this way. It had brought him to his moment of decision, led him to leave his job— a life change (Matthew 9:9).  Now he wanted his friends to be exposed to the same ideas and the Person who had helped him see himself.

I would suggest that it is similar for us. It's only when we are honest about our condition and realistic about who and what we are that we get free to leave the old life behind and embark with Jesus on the new.

We have to face that we don't "make mistakes," we sin. Our sinful acts aren't the odd exception, they are symptoms of our chronic condition. We need to repent, turn around, and come to Dr. Jesus for mercy. This is not some self-improvement program for us and our friends, but a spiritual healing, a rebirth.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, in my society where "sin" and "repentance" are words I rarely hear, help me to understand the depth of human separation from You, the need to admit that we're all sinners and must turn around (repent) to re-establish our relationship with God. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 85

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The burden of concealment

Achan hides his loot - Artist Unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Ezekiel 5-8; Psalm 32

TO CHEW ON: "When I kept silent my bones grew old through my groaning all day long." Psalm 32:3


David writes Psalm 32 from a place of relief. He had covered a sin, then come clean and confessed it.  He contrasts the way it feels to be holding his secret with the relief of having confessed. Let's take a look at the effects of covering or concealing sin on David - Psalm 32:3,4:

"When I kept silent…

• "…my bones grew old…" - He felt a sense of fragility and weakness.

• "…through my groaning all day long." - He experienced day-long agony of spirit.

• "For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;" - God's presence felt heavy, not comforting.

• "My vitality was turned into the drought of summer" - he felt useless and unproductive, like a plant shrivels and grows weak without water.

A brief overview of others who practiced concealment in the Bible show more side effects of covering sin:

• Adam and Eve attempted to hide from God (Genesis 3:8), though it was and is impossible (Psalm 139:11; Luke 12:2; Revelation 6:16).

• Achan and Gehazi had to sneak around and hide their stolen treasures - Joshua 7:21; 2 Kings 5:24.

• Isaiah talks about permanent deep changes to the person who lives a life of concealment. He calls it becoming "warped" - Isaiah 47:10.

I don't know if you have ever refused to confess a known sin, but I have.  I can witness to how accurate David is in describing what it feels like.

Contrast those feelings with how everything changes for him following his confession:
He feels:

• a desire to be with God again - Psalm 32:6.

• security in God's presence -  Psalm 32:7.

• joy, expressed in singing and shouting - Psalm 32:7, 11.

• direction and purpose - Psalm 32:8.

• gratitude for God's mercy - Psalm 32:10.

If you are holding onto a secret sin thinking you can live like this indefinitely, stop kidding yourself. Expose your secret. Make it right with God and any person involved. Then watch the vitality and joy flow back into your relationship with God and others.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for David's vivid and accurate description of concealment. Help me to live my life clear and transparent before you and others. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 32

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Some do's and don'ts for a successful life

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Proverbs 22-24; Psalm 5

TO CHEW ON: "Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise,
And apply your heart to my knowledge;
For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you;
Let them all be fixed upon your lips,
So that your trust may be in the Lord..." Proverbs 22:17-19

Even though its wisdom is ancient, the advice in Proverbs is as relevant today as ever. The issues addressed in one chapter of today's reading (Proverbs 22) are wide-ranging—from bringing up children to having a good work ethic. Yet the theme of SUCCESS runs through them all. The writer is telling us, to have a successful life you must do some things and refrain from doing others.

DO:

• Seek to have a good reputation - Proverbs 22:1
• Understand your times and guard yourself against possible catastrophe - Proverbs 22:3.
• Live humbly and fear God - Proverbs 22:4,5.
• Train children from the earliest age - Proverbs 22:6
• Be generous and give to the poor - Proverbs 22:9
• Remove cynical contentious people as partners or associates - Proverbs 22:10.
• Love purity and speak with grace - Proverbs 22:11.
• Actively seek wisdom and knowledge - Proverbs 22:17,18.
• Trust in the Lord - Proverbs 22:19
• Work hard to be the best you can be - Proverbs 22:29.

DON'T:

• Live a wilfully sinful life - Proverbs 22:8.
• Be lazy - Proverbs 22:13.
• Ignore the foolishness that is found in your child's heart - Proverbs 22:15.
• Take advantage of the poor and downtrodden - Proverbs 22:23.
• Become intimate with angry people - Proverbs 22:24,25.
• Borrow money or underwrite someone else's loan - Proverbs 22:7, 26, 27.
• Move the borders of your property to increase the size of your plot - Proverbs 22:28

Though living by these do's and don'ts may sound like common sense, some are anti-intuitive—at least anti-intuitive to our 21st century minds. To put them into practice we need to have faith in God and that what He says through Solomon is really wise.
- Being generous makes you rich?
- Gracious speech has more impact than bullying, angry words?
- Borrowing and going into debt is bad?
- Innocent little children need correction and discipline?
Especially when God's wisdom clashes with our modern 'wisdom' we need to cling to Him as we resist going along with the crowd:

"Let them all be fixed on your lips
So that your trust may be in the Lord."

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to trust You and take seriously the wisdom in Your word, especially when it goes against what my peers think, believe, and live by. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 5

MORE: Are you foolish enough?

"When looking back on the lives of men and women of God the tendency is to say - What wonderfully astute wisdom they had! How perfectly they understood all God wanted! The astute mind behind is the Mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the Divine guidance of God through childlike people who were foolish enough to trust God's wisdom and the supernatural equipment of God." - Oswald Chambers, from the October 26th reading of My Utmost for His Highest.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

When the wise speak

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Proverbs 7-9; Psalm 150

TO CHEW ON: "Listen, for I will speak of excellent things,
And from the opening of my lips will come right things." Proverbs 8:6

One of my favourite down-time activities is to watch reality shows on the Food Network. I love the contestants' ingenuity with food and seeing the amazing creations they come up with in limited time. But there is one thing I don't enjoy—the profanities used by many contestants. The beeper is busy and still some leak through.

These brilliant cooks may be wise about food but according to the writer of today's reading, could they be lacking in other wisdom? For wisdom here identifies herself largely by what comes out of one's mouth.

What does come out of the mouth of a wise person?

Right things, excellent things, truth, words spoken with righteousness, nothing perverse or crooked, plain understandable speech, instruction, knowledge.

The Bible speaks of speech in other places too:

• A wise person "spares his words"  and is "of a calm spirit" - Proverbs 17:27.

• Jesus advises us to make simple promise which are kept - Matthew 5:37.

• Paul tells the Colossians that their speech should be "always with grace" - Colossians 4:6.

• However, James reminds us that none of us is perfect in this department - James 3:2-18.

Oops! Maybe I'd better take a closer look at myself. What is my speech like when I get upset, am under pressure, on the offensive? Always gracious and excellent? Never perverse? I know too that unwise words nurtured in my thoughts may one day spill out. Perhaps I'd better attend to my own unwise thoughts and words before I point fingers at others.

What about you?

PRAYER: Dear God, help me with my pesky tongue. Actually, help me to go one step back and root out unwise thoughts that, if allowed to grow, will produce a harvest of unwise words. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 150

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Three relationship lessons from David and Absalom

Absalom - James Tissot

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 2 Samuel 13-15; Psalm 90

TO CHEW ON: And Absalom answered Joab, "Look, I sent to you, saying, 'Come here, so that I may send you to the king, to say, "Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still." ' Now therefore, let me see the king's face; but if there is iniquity in me, let him execute me." 2 Samuel 14:32


The story of David and his sons is full of relationship game-playing.

It starts with David and two of his sons—half brothers Amnon and Absalom. When Amnon rapes Absalom's sister Tamar, David doesn't do anything about it even though there is a specific law against and punishment prescribed for incest (death) (2 Samuel 13:1-22; Leviticus 20:17). So Absalom takes revenge for the sin against his sister, kills Amnon, and flees to Geshur (2 Samuel 13:23-37). David us understandably heartbroken, and upset with Absalom.

Three years pass. When Joab, captain of David's army, sees that David is pining for Absalom, he devises a scheme whereby David's conversation with a wise woman gets him to recall Absalom to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 14:1-24).

That brings us to our today's reading where, after two years of David and Absalom living in the same town, David still hasn't called Absalom to see him or given him any indication that he's forgiven. When Absalom requests Joab come to him, Joab ignores him too. Absalom, in desperation, lights Joab's field on fire and that finally brings them face to face.

The result is a clear request for a meeting from Absalom to David (via Joab). When they meet, Absalom bows before his father, gets his dad's kiss (forgiveness) and things are good between them again… well, not quite.

For somehow, all this relationship drama has nurtured the thought in Absalom that he is more fit to be king than David is. And so we leave him conspiring to take over the throne.

I see in this story some relationship mistakes. They show us some things we can learn and apply as we interact within our families and communities:

1. David is lax in the way he handles Amnon's incest. This causes Absalom to distrust his father, who no longer appears to be acting righteously and justly.

David's failure here underlines the need for justice and integrity in us as parents and leaders—in front of our children and everyone who watches us.

2. Joab and David send mixed messages to Absalom. David calls him back to Jerusalem but then they never get together. Joab is instrumental in getting Absalom to return but then he ignores Absalom's request for an audience. Absalom is justifiably confused. Why has he been recalled? Has David forgiven him, or is he planning to kill him in revenge for Amnon's death?

We too need to give clear messages with our words and actions: " 'Let your yes be yes and your no, no' " Jesus says in Matthew 5:37.

3. Finally, Absalom lets his hurt and confusion fester into a plan to hurt his father back. If David is remiss in delaying his expression of forgiveness, Absalom is wrong in cultivating bitterness toward his dad.

When we've been wronged, we too need to forgive—completely and without secret plans to retaliate.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to live out these relationship qualities of justice transparency and forgiveness. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 90


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Discovering the truth about ourselves

"David and Nathan" - Matthias Scheits

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Numbers 33-34; Psalm 51

TO CHEW ON: "Behold You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom." Psalm 51:6


David prayed this prayer after the uncanny experience of having Nathan the prophet come to him and expose his sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12).

Had Nathan caught him in the act?

No. It was God who revealed David's sin to Nathan—the God who:

• spotted Noah as righteous - Genesis 7:1.

• whispered the secrets of Saul to Samuel - 1 Samuel 9:19.

• alerted Elisha to Gehazi's sin of lying to Naaman - 2 Kings 5:26.

• kept Jesus in-the-know about the thoughts and attitudes of those around Him - Matthew 22:18; Mark 2:8; Luke 6:8; 11:17.

• gave the disciples confidence to offer the gospel to the Gentiles - Acts 15:8.

But David was a Spirit-filled man, wasn't he? Why did God need to send someone else to tell him how displeasing his sin was?

Perhaps because his involvement in that sin had opened him up to deception. Whenever his sin bothered him, which it no doubt did, he silenced the pangs of conscience or the voice of God with, 'It's no big deal' or, 'I had no other option,' or any number of other excuses we too give for committing sin. Then it took someone else, someone who heard God's voice clearly, to bring him to his senses. It was only after Nathan confronted him that he confessed to his sin (2 Samuel 12: 7,13).

God wants us to be just as scrupulously honest with ourselves—to live in truth at the deepest level. He can show us the state of our hearts. I love another David psalm where he prays: "Search me O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting" - Psalm 139:23,24.

But if we insist on living in deception, God can also send someone—our own Nathan—to tell us the truth about ourselves. The question is, will we be as receptive to such an exposé as David was? However it happens may we be as quick to acknowledge our sin and repent.

PRAYER: Dear God, please alert me to self deception. I want to have a life of truth and wisdom. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 51

MORE:  Repentance

"Repentance always brings a man to this point: I have sinned. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says that and means it. Anything less than this is a remorse for having made blunders, the reflex action of disgust at himself.

The entrance into the Kingdom is through the panging pains of repentance crashing into a man's respectable goodness; then the Holy God, who produces these agonies, begins the formation of the Son of God in the life. The new life will manifest itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way about" - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 7 reading.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 

Prayer practices from the Psalms

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Numbers 8-10; Psalm 42

TO CHEW ON: "Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
For the help of His countenance - Psalm 42:5

In these two Psalms (42 & 43) we see a person who is praying from a place of deep distress. I love it that Bible writings like this show us that people who lived back in Bible times were a lot like us. They felt discouraged, intimidated, depressed, overwhelmed, and very needy. But this Son of Korah wasn't content to stay in that dark place. These psalms are his prayers and they illustrate some excellent prayer practices.

• He tells God how much he needs Him and why - Psalm 42:1,2. His need seems to be based in part on the scorn of people around him. Those mockers point out that God hasn't come to his rescue so maybe He doesn't even exist. Our Son of Korah tells God about this - Psalm 42:3,10.

• He remembers the good times of going to 'church' with the multitudes (Psalm 42:4) and the nation's history with God (Psalm 42:6) and in this way bolsters his faith.

• He talks to his discouraged self. Three times he repeats self-talk that begins with "Why are you cast down, O my soul…(Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5). A sidebar article about these verses says:

"…he refocuses himself on the promises of God, confronts the fears and contradictions deep in his soul, and challenges himself about every semblance of unbelief in his heart …. Faith comes alive by hearing the truth so the psalmist seems to be preaching to himself being renewed in hope as he reviews who God really is" - David Bryant, "Preparing Yourself to Pray," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 720.

• He puts into words what he wants—exactly what he envisions God will do for him:

- Show him lovingkindness - Psalm 42:8.
- Replace his anxious nighttime thoughts with songs and prayers - Psalm 42:8.
- Set him free from the schemes of deceitful, unjust men - Psalm 43:1.
- Send His truth and light as direction for living - Psalm 43:3.
- Bring him back to church with songs of praise - Psalm 43:4,5.

Maybe we should embrace some of these practices in our own lives. We could:

- Talk to God with brutal honesty—telling Him about our troubles and how much we need him.
- Talk to ourselves, repudiating our feelings with the truth of who God is and His promises to us.
- Recall how God has helped us in the past.
- Express in detail what we'd like God to do for us.

PRAYER: Dear God, sometimes I feel a lot like the Sons of Korah. Please help me to remember these prayer practices and use them. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 42

MORE: Who is God? What are His promises?

"…Faith comes alive by hearing the truth so the psalmist seems to be preaching to himself being renewed in hope as he reviews who God really is," says our Bible commenter. What is the truth about God? What are His promises?

One of the best ways I've found to remind myself of who God is and what His promises are is to recall / recite Bible verses I have memorized. Verses like:

Exodus 14:14
Isaiah 54:10
Hosea 6:3
Matthew 7:7,8
Philippians 4:5,7

What verses would you suggest?

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Integrity

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 28-29; Psalm 26

TO CHEW ON: Vindicate me O Lord,
For I have walked in my integrity ...
But as for me, I will walk in my integrity ..." Psalm 26:1,11


In this psalm David twice uses the word integrity—a word we don't run across often in the Bible. He uses it to describe his own life and lifetyle.

[Integrity means (according to my Funk and Wagnalls)

1. Uprightness of character, honesty, probity (virtue or integrity tested and confirmed; strict honesty).

2. The condition or quality of being unimpaired or sound.

3. The state of being complete or undivided.]

The first definition (uprightness of character, honesty, probity) is most likely the meaning we would think of when we describe someone's life. However, I would suggest that a life lived that way leads to a life and reputation that would embody the other aspects of integrity as well (i.e. a life unimpaired, sound, complete, and undivided).

David gives us some clues in this psalm about how he conducted his life so it would have integrity. Perhaps we can pick up some pointers from him about how we too can live that way.


1. David lived with the consciousness that God sees everything. 
David, it seems, had dealt with secret and public matters in his life to the extent that he was confident in inviting God's scrutiny (Psalm 26:1-3). This is surely the attitude of someone with no skeletons in his closet.

Have we cultivated such a clear conscience before God and people?

2. David was intentional about the company he kept.
He avoided spending time with hypocrites, evildoers, the wicked, and people who worshiped idols (Psalm 26:4-5). He was not naive about his own susceptibility to corruption and didn't want to end up with the corrupters (Psalm 26:9-10).

Though Jesus' great assignment gives us a reason to spend time with non-believers, and He Himself was a loving example of this, I believe we need to be as intentional about the company we keep as David was. The company we keep also includes the movies and TV we watch, the books, magazines, and online content we read.

3. He voiced his praise and thanksgiving.
David's guilt-free living ("I will wash my hands in innocence"  - Psalm 26:6) expressed itself in praise and thanksgiving to God (Psalm 26:7). 

What we express in words and song, even if at first half-hearted, is bolstered even as we speak and sing the words.


4. David loved to spend time in God's house and with fellow believers.
The fact that David loved God's presence is another witness to his integrity. He would not have been able to bask in God's glory (Psalm 26:8) if his life had been full of known sin. The "congregation" gave him a safe place to identify with like-minded people and encourage them with his presence and the aroma of his relationship with God (Psalm 26:12).

Our desire to attend church (whether that's going to a building or just being with fellow believers wherever) and spend time with other Christians can be both an evidence of our integrity and a way to reinforce it (with mutual encouragement and example).

Can we say with David, "I have walked in integrity .... I will walk in my integrity"? If not, let's make the integrity of our lives a matter of attention today.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for David and his articulate transparency that helps me find ways to examine my own life. I pray with him, "Search me, O God .... Try me .... see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24). Amen.


Psalm to pray: Psalm 26

MORE: More about integrity


"Keeping your word is the essence of integrity," says Michael Hyatt (former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing) in the blog post "Keeping Your Word." He goes on, "As Stephen Covey points out, 'honesty is making your words conform to reality. Integrity is making reality conform to your words.' It is essential to leadership. Without it, you cannot be an effective leader."

Read all of "Keeping Your Word" to discover the organic link between integrity and leadership.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The work of fruitless effort

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Micah 6:1-16

TO CHEW ON: “You shall sow, but not reap;
You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
And make sweet wine but not drink wine.” Micah 6:15


Have you ever experienced fruitless effort—worked hard on a project only to have it fall apart before it was finished; created a product that didn’t sell; put years into training that never yielded a dollar of return in salary?

Fruitless effort is what Micah is predicting here for the people of Judah and Israel? But why? The preceding verses of Micah 6 give us some clues:

• Their worship had become a dead form and ritual (Micah 6:6,7). The attitude of their hearts was far from complying with the three things that God required: “But to do justly / To love mercy, / And to walk humbly with your God” - Micah 6:8.

• Their work was characterized by evil and deceit. Notice the list of things that offended God in the way they went about their day-to-day business: “...wickedness … short measure … wicked scales … deceitful weights … violence … lies … tongue is deceitful…” Micah 6:10-12.

• These practices seemed to have become part of their culture, a culture that developed under ungodly kings: “For the statues of Omri are kept/ All the works of Ahab’s house are done; / And you walk in their counsels” - Micah 6:16.

Could it be that some of our work failures, our fruitless effort fiascos, come about for the same reasons? We shove justice and mercy to the bottom of the priority list (aren’t they more for bleeding hearts?). Instead of walking with God we drag behind or race ahead of Him, working to our own timetables and ambitions? We mimic the work practices of the culture around us. Why not work for cash and so avoid reporting income and paying tax? Why not take a few office supplies home for the kids? Why not call in sick when we feel we need a day off? Everyone else is doing and getting away with it!

A paragraph on this passage in the Theology of Work Bible Commentary sums it up well:

“This is a reminder that the world of work does not exist in a vacuum, separated from the rest of life. If we do not ground our values and priorities in God’s covenant, then our lives and work will be ethically and spiritually incoherent. If we do not please God in our work, we cannot please him in our worship” -  Theology of Work Commentary, accessed through BibleGateway.com (emphasis added).

And if we do not please Him in our work, we should not be surprised if He withholds His blessing from our efforts.

PRAYER: Dear Father, please help me to keep justice, mercy, and walking with you (not ahead or behind) at the top of my work priorities. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A real vs. religious relationship with God

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Habakkuk 1:1-2:4

TO CHEW ON: "O Lord how long shall I cry,
And you will not hear?
Even cry out to You, 'Violence!'
And You will not save." Habakkuk 1:1

The times felt God-forsaken to Habakkuk. Judah had backslidden from Josiah's reforms. Violence towards citizens and oppression of the poor were rampant. Babylonia was gaining strength and threatened to invade from the north while Egypt and Assyria eyed other borders. It was in this setting that the prophet Habakkuk—a Levite—cried out to God.

His part of the conversation in Habakkuk 1 is refreshingly honest.
- He pours out his frustrations with God who seems deaf and disinterested -  Habakkuk 1:1.

- He confronts God with what appear to be contradictions—if God is holy why doesn't He deal with evil - Habakkuk 1:13?

- He appeals to the order of creation, showing God how man, in his anarchy, is no better than the creatures - Habakkuk 1:14-17.

God's reply (Habakkuk 1:5-11) is delivered with the same feistiness as Habakkuk's questions:

"Look among the nations and watch—
Be utterly astounded!
For I will work a work in your days
Which you would not believe though it were told you" (Habakkuk 1:5).

Habakkuk is a good example of a man who has a genuine relationship with God. In her Truth-In-Action Through Habakkuk commentary, Leslyn Musch says:

"Habakkuk's transparent interchange with God models for us a real relationship rather than a religious one."

Musch makes these points about how to make ours similar:

• Ask God the honest questions of your heart.

• Understand that He can handle them.

• Draw close to Him through prayer.

• Ask to gain God's perspective on injustice.

• Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the deep things of God - 1 Corinthians 2:10-11.

Of God's reply she says:

• Expect the Lord to answer you.

• Approach God with an open heart.

• Lay down any preconceived ideas of how He will respond.

• Be ready to hear anything He desires to tell you.

- Leslyn Musch, Truth-In-Action-Through Habakkuk, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1229.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for being big enough for any question. Help me to trust You when I don't understand and Your silence and inaction look like a contradiction of who You are. I want to be open to Your answers, however You send them. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Barnabas—extraordinarily ordinary

Paul and Barnabas sent - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Acts 11:19-12:5

TO CHEW ON: "For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith." Acts 11:24

In the New Testament we have many major characters like Peter, John, and Paul on whom we often focus. But there are also minor ones like Barnabas—a man Luke describes as "a good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith." What qualities of character and action did he have to merit such a description? In our reading today Barnabas lives out five.

Barnabas was:

Perceptive.
We can conclude this because the disciples chose him to check out what was happening in Antioch with the new Greek converts. And when he got to Antioch, he recognized that God was at work there (Acts 11:22,23).

Positive and encouraging.
What he saw when he arrived in Antioch made him glad and he encouraged them all (Acts 11:23).

A worker who served the crowd.
He rolled up his sleeves and pitched in, working beside the original evangelists. His faith and Holy Spirit-empowered life accounted for many more conversions (Acts 11:24).

A worker who focused on one.
He remembered that new convert Saul, the one everyone had earlier feared because of his reputation for persecuting believers. But Barnabas had trusted him and introduced Saul to the fellowship in Jerusalem sometime back (Acts 9:26-30). Now he went to Tarsus to fetch Saul and add him to the Antioch ministry team (Acts 11:25,26).

Honest with money.
When Agabus prophesied a famine for Judea the believers (now called Christians) took up an offering and sent Barnabas and Saul to Judea with it.

I don't know what you picture when you hear that someone is full of the Holy Spirit and faith. A person who performs miracles? A powerful orator? Someone who lives a notch above us everyday plodders?

I love this picture of Barnabas whose life is a demonstration of how ordinary are the qualities the Spirit uses: discernment, a positive encouraging attitude, a work ethic, an awareness of others' strengths and where they could be of use in the church, and reliability and honesty.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the example of Barnabas. Help me not to spurn the lowly character qualities that, when empowered by Your Spirit and faith, can enable us to accomplish much in Your kingdom. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Fish-belly prayer

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jonah 2:1-10

TO CHEW ON: "'But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.'" Jonah 2:9

Our reading today is Jonah's desperate prayer for help from the belly of the fish. Interesting, isn't it, how he plotted to "flee...from the presence of the Lord" but now he begs for God's intervention, talking to Him as if He were very much present!

This is another of the great prayers of the Old Testament. Walter Brueggemann in his chapter on Jonah's prayer (Great Prayers of the Old Testament), points out several interesting things about it:

1. Jonah recognizes that even before his actual return to dry land the fish belly is part of his rescue and he thanks God for that - Jonah 2:2: "...the fish functions in the narrative as a liminal 'middle zone' between the great threat of the sea and the equally great safety of the dry land" - Walter Brueggemann, Great Prayers of the Old Testament, Kindle edition p. 60.

2. Despite his grim situation, Jonah seems unwilling to completely acknowledge his own responsibility for being there. He says, "'For You cast me into the deep..." (Jonah 2:3). Ahem, Jonah, wasn't it you who ran away from God, got on the ship and suggested the sailors throw you overboard? "To credit YHWH with the distress serves to exempt Jonah himself from responsibility..." Brueggemann, p. 62.

3. Jonah's poetic description of his plight (Jonah 2:4-6a) is an example of exaggeration—hyperbole: "The language of prayer is free to employ such hyperbole; it is the sort of regressive speech that we may use in contexts of acute danger and pain" - Brueggemann, 62.

4. Jonah acknowledges his "fox-hole religion": "When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord" (Jonah 2:7).

5. He promises to do what God has asked and with a good attitude: "I will sacrifice to You / With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed" - Jonah 2:9

6. Despite his little side trips into self-justification (Jonah 2:3) and preachiness (Jonah 2:8), his main focus is God (Jonah 2:2-4, 6-7,9) and his prayer ends in thankfulness for his rescue before it is ever accomplished.

Let's gather a few principles for our own praying from Jonah's example:

• Our present setting—a hospital bed, a time of unemployment, a difficult season with a family member or whatever—may be a 'middle zone' for us too, i.e. part of God's rescue plan.

• We do well to ask ourselves, is there any self-deception in our attitudes or prayers?

• It's okay to tell God exactly how we feel.

• If we make promises in our fox-hole, let's keep them!

• Above all, let's focus on God who is greater than any pickle in which we'll ever find ourselves. As we do this our prayers will shift from reciting trouble to praise and thanksgiving for His rescue even before we actually reach "...dry land" - Jonah 2:10.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for very human Jonah and his prayer. Help me to be honest with You and myself, and to call out to You when I'm in trouble with the faith and God-focus Jonah showed. Amen.

MORE: Questions we can ask ourselves

I really like the three questions with which Walter Brueggemann ends this chapter—questions which warrant honest consideration within the privacy of our own hearts.

1. How can we pray in the midst of our disobedience?
2. From what will God deliver and rescue us?
3. How can we pray past our own self-deception?
- Brueggemann, p. 67.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Practical repentance

Image from Pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 3:1-18

TO CHEW ON: "And he (John) went into all the region around Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." - Luke 3:3

By the time Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke he had made the connection between Isaiah's prophecy (what he quotes in Luke 3:4-6 from Isaiah 40:3-5) to the coming of Jesus as Messiah and the role that John the Baptist played in preparing the people for Jesus.

Luke saw John as that "voice of one crying in the wilderness." The preparation that he preached was repentance (metanoia). As we saw a few days ago, repent means to feel remorse, change one's mind, and reform.

When John's convicted hearers responded to his message with "What shall we do then?" John gave practical examples. Repentance would be evident when they…

• Turned from selfishness to generosity to the extent of sharing life's everyday stuff of food and clothes - Luke 3:11.

• Turned from using questionable business practices to being honest - Luke 3:13.

• Turned from using intimidation, bullying, and lying to practicing honest justice - Luke 3:14.

• Turned from whining about wages to being content with them - Luke 3:14.

In these weeks of the Advent season, we also prepare our hearts. As we let the Holy Spirit shine His light into their farthest corners, what do we see that we need to repent of? Perhaps we need to deal with some of the same vices John pointed out of selfishness, dishonesty, bullying and intimidation, injustice, discontentment. Or maybe it's something else—fear and anxiety, distraction, sensuousness, envy, lust…

Whatever God shows us, let's deal with it in repentance (feel remorse, change our mind, reform) as we prepare to celebrate Jesus coming to make His home within us.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for this clear and practical example of John the Baptist, who took repentance out of the realm of theory into real life. Please show me where I need to repent.

MORE: Second Sunday of Advent

Today is the Second Sunday of Advent. Today's liturgy begins with this collect:

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

When Love says what we don't want to hear

Jesus and the rich young man - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Mark 10:17-34

TO CHEW ON: "Then Jesus, looking at him loved him, and said to him, 'One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross and follow Me.' " Mark 10:21


I wonder what this young man was expecting from Jesus. A compliment, perhaps? Surely reassurance that he was in good shape to "inherit eternal life."

Yet here, just after we read that Jesus looked on him with love, He made a statement that probably didn't sound loving at all—that may have haunted this young man for the rest of his life.

Jesus, whose very life was God's "I love you" to the world, had a habit of doing that—telling the truth, no matter how unloving it sounded at the time.

• He refused to fudge the history of the woman at the Sychar well, restating her, "'I have no husband,'" truthfully with: " ' … for you have had five husbands and the one whom you now have is not your husband' " John 4:18.

• He called sin, sin.

* He exposed it as the root of other problems, like the physical paralysis of the man whose friends lowered him through the roof to Jesus - Mark 2:3-12.

* He socialized with those He called " 'sick' " and " 'sinners' " in order to call them to repent - Mark 2:15-1.

* He demonstrated that we are all sinners by defusing the situation between the adulterous woman and her would-be stone throwers - John 8:7,11.

• He rebuked fear and worry in His disciples during the storm, calling it faithlessness - Mark 4:37-40.

• He exposed what was satanic in even His closest follower. When Peter contradicted Him about His coming death, He said to Peter, " 'Get behind me Satan. For you are not mindful of the things of God, but of man' " Mark 8:33.

• He pointed out the danger of the disciples' sloth: " 'Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation.' " Mark 14:37-38.

I could go on but I'm sure we get the idea.

Jesus still confronts us with hard but loving truths about ourselves and our situations. What is He saying to us today? 

• That our priorities are wrong and we're too attached to earthly things?

• That the things we euphemize or call mistakes, faults, or weaknesses are really sin and need to be repented of?

• That our fear and worry are really an inexcusable lack of faith?

• That Satan has crept into our viewpoint?

• That our laziness and sloth are weakening us for temptation?

• Or …?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, please help me to hear Your hard but loving words of truth to me in my situation, and then to make the appropriate changes in my thoughts, attitudes and actions. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Which Zeresh traits do you have?

Haman, Zeresh and friends - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Esther 5:1-14

TO CHEW ON: "Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, 'Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it; then go merrily with the king to the banquet.' And the thing pleased Haman; so he had the gallows made." Esther 5:14

All Haman's honors amount to nothing in the face of Mordecai's continued disdain for him. Haman can't seem to get the better of that little man and it rankles him beyond all the feel-good emotions aroused by the king's and queen's honors.

At such a time, there's nothing like a sympathetic, imaginative—and ruthless—wife. Zeresh is such a one. She is the first person Haman wants to see on arriving home (Esther 5:10). He knows she'll salve his hurt ego.

She does more. Proposes he build a gallows of 50 cubits (75 feet) on which to hang Mordecai. This will ensure that his death is a public spectacle.

But then, as we read on, we see that events turn against Haman. Zeresh sees it too. She can read the tide as well as anyone and tells it like it is (Esther 6:13).

Zeresh is an example of a great wife in several ways. The fact that she is the first one Haman wants to see on coming home with hurt feelings tells us that she is a sympathetic and supportive mate. He knows she is on his side. Later when things start to go sideways, she is honest about what she sees—another good trait in a wife.

However, she uses her influence to encourage Haman to do evil—more evil than he has planned. She feeds his base emotion of envy with fantasies and then concrete plans of revenge, which eventually come back to bite him (Esther 5:14; 7:9-10).

As partners and friends, let's learn from Zeresh. Like her we should be supportive and honest. But unlike her we can resist the urge to ramp up evil, instead influencing our spouse or friends toward good— that is toward love and forgiveness and away from hatred and revenge.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to be a partner and friend who spurs others on to love and good deeds (not hatred and evil). Amen.

MORE:  "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds" - Hebrews 10:24 NIV

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Two essentials for healthy church life

Photo courtesy RGBStock.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: James 5:7-20

TO CHEW ON: "Confess to one another therefore your faults—your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins; and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored—to a spiritual tone of mind and heart. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available in its working." James 5:16 AMP

What a lot this verse has to say about healthy body life. It focuses on two necessary things.

Confession

I quoted the Amplified version of James 5:16 because it shows the breadth of openness we're to have with each other as Christ's disciples. We're to be open about the tiniest to the biggest sins, the tongue-slip of a momentary lapse to the sinful habits that ensnare us (Hebrews 12:1).  Some things this kind of authentic confession does:

• It helps us see each other realistically and not put people on pedestals.

• It sharpens our consciousness of our own sin. As we hear our brother or sister confess, say, an angry response or unkind word, memories of our own sins surface and we're prompted to clear them up.

• Such accountability keeps us from repeating such sins in the future as we realize, the angry word that will make me feel better momentarily will just have to be confessed later. So I'd better keep my mouth shut.

• It gives us prayer fodder. That's the whole point of James' instructions for these interchanges. People who know each other's weaknesses and temptations can pray effectively and fervently for each other.

Prayer

We discover that restoration may take more than our determination and self discipline. To gain and keep victory, we need the help that comes from God through the prayers of fellow Christians.

The adjectives "effective" and "fervent" (James 5:16 NKJV) catch my attention. Is James saying that some prayers are more likely to be answered than others? My Bible's notes give helpful insight about the phrase "fervent prayer of a righteous man":

"… the basic idea is that of a supplication 'having energy.' Effective prayer is characterized by earnestness, fervency, and energy to release results and is illustrated in the case study* the following verses provide" - Jon Mark Ruthven, study notes on James, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1758.  

If we practiced confession to and prayer with and for each other regularly, I think our church life would become much more relevant to real life than the Sunday fantasy oasis it often is when we hide our messy lives behind masks of holiness and self-sufficiency.


PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to hazard and nurture authenticity and prayer with my Christian brothers and sisters. Amen.
* The "case study" mentioned here is Elijah. We can read his story in 1 Kings 17 & 18.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible,
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Online integrity

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Peter 2:1-12

TO CHEW ON: "Therefore laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby." 2 Peter 2:1-2


I love the guileless, transparent picture of the ideal Christian Peter paints for us here. It sounds so simple to live that way and probably would be if our lives weren't full of other people — people we don't like or we wish liked us; people we are trying to impress or are trying to impress us; people who bug us or bore us, intimidate us or are mean to us; people who talk too much or too little; people we think are wrong and people with whom we agree; people to whom we impute ulterior motives or whom we admire immensely. We meet up with these and how quickly the game-playing begins!

A new challenge to the integrity of our relationships is interacting with people through technology. The non face-to-face aspect of these interactions (through e-mail, cell phones, text messages, Facebook, blogs, comments, forums, etc.) makes us more vulnerable than ever to manipulate who we are and to be someone we're not to serve our own ends.

Tim Challies in his book The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion says:

"In all the ways we communicate today, we may use our technologies to destroy relationship instead of foster it, to tear down instead of build up....Through the Bible God calls us to speak truth in love. Truth and love are the twin pillars that should uphold all our communication" p. 85.

Then he goes on to give four measures to implement in our online life which will help us foster truth and love:

" Be visible. If anonymity can be an enemy and a refuge, then visibility can work to keep us from slipping into sinful patterns of living and communicating...


Be accountable....Let friends or family know what you are doing online; invite them into your digital world ....


Be real. Don't fabricate for yourself an identity online that is vastly different from your real-world identity....


Be mature. To sum it up, you will need to act like a mature Christian. Paul draws a clear connection between maturity and the ability to speak truth in love....


And always distrust yourself. It may sound harsh, but be willing to doubt your motives, your heart. Take a moment to pray before answering an antagonistic e-mail; bounce your ideas and articles off trusted friends before posting them; be slow to speak (or type) and quick to listen" - p. 86.

What great advice to us in what has become a technology-medicated generation.

Of course on top of this, we would do well to be closer followers of Peter's second bit of advice, to "desire the pure milk of the word" above all the trillions of online words.

PRAYER: Dear God, please change me at a heart level so all my relationships and communications, no matter how they are conducted, are free from malice, deceit, envy and evil speaking. Help me to feed on Your words more than the multitudes of others' words available to me. Amen.

MORE: Challies.com

Tim Challies, the author of The Next Story is an Ontario resident who blogs at http://challies.com. For insightful book reviews, commentary on the Christian faith, and observations about life from a Reformed perspective, his blog is a great resource.

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 Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

God likes integrity

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Leviticus 19:1-19

TO CHEW ON: "You shall not … deal falsely, nor lie to one another." Leviticus 19:11

In this chapter where God elaborates through Moses on the things that please and displease Him, He repeatedly refers to things we might lump under the heading "Integrity."

[Integrity: 1) Uprightness of character, probity (which means virtue or integrity tested and confirmed; strict honesty). 2) The condition or quality of being unimpaired, sound. 3) The state of being complete or undivided. - Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary.]

In addition to not dealing falsely or lying to each other generally (Leviticus 19:11), the Israelites are to carry this integrity into the various relationships of their lives. Integrity is needed when they deal with:

Neighbours: No cheating or robbing them (Leviticus 19:13); no going about behind their backs slandering them or taking a stand against their lives ("… secure yourself by false testimony or by silence and endanger the life of your neighbor" (Leviticus 19:16 AMP).

Employees: No holding back a worker's wages then they have the ability to pay (Leviticus 19:13).

Family: No secret hatred (Leviticus 19:17), no holding grudges (Leviticus 19:18).

Do these principles still apply in our time?  Do we ever speak out of both sides of our mouths as we interact with friends, neighbors, and family members? Do we pay employees fairly and on time? Do we use our own names online in places like Twitter? Or do we use pseudonyms so we can say things that we'd be embarrassed to own in real life?  Do we project our lives honestly on Facebook?

I'm not suggesting we endanger our safety by giving too much information, especially online. But don't we run the risk of being found out and losing our credibility with people if we're being intentionally deceptive? Of course we know that we can't pull the wool over God's eyes even if we tried—and He has some pretty strong words to say about liars (Revelation 21:8).

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to see areas in my life where I'm tempted to be less than honest. Help me to be a person of integrity in all my relationships. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)