Friday Reading: Proverbs 3:27-28
Key Verse: Proverbs 3:28
28 Do not say to your neighbour, Go and come back again, and tomorrow I will give; when you have it beside you:
Devotion:
One of those questions that I get asked a lot is “is it a sin to withhold the truth?” and people will always back that up with “well I am not actually telling a lie…” Sadly, if they have to ask a question like that then they are not as close to God as they thought they were. It would be a difficult question for a non-Christian to answer because so much of our society would support the fact that it is better to withhold the truth when you think it is better for the other party. That is not what God tells us to do…
When God gave us the commandments it was no little thing that He told us to love Him before everything else; furthermore Christ upheld that by reminding us that we need to love God with every part of us and not just as a ‘say so’. If we are then going to love Him with our hearts and minds then we definitely need to take heed of all of His commandments with the same gusto; with our whole heart and mind. That means that when we read the commandment that we should not bear false witness it does not mean that we can bend the rules so that we fit in with the exact words of the statement but rather that we follow the spirit of the commandment.
So next time we are faced with the situation of telling the truth we need to stop and think about how much God means to us. God wants us to follow His commandments because we love Him; not because they are the 10 Commandments. God wants us to love our neighbours just like we love ourselves. We do not knowingly lie to ourselves (yes we do get carried away and stop thinking now and again and end up fooling ourselves) so why should we lie to others. We always like to know the whole truth so why should we withhold that same truth from others? Allow them to make the choice just as Christ has given us the whole truth and allows us to make our own choices!
Points to Ponder:
Do you withhold the truth from others?
Are you treating God right?