Sunday 17 Sep 2017

September 17: Proverbs 25:18-19

Key Verse: Proverbs 25:19
Like a broken tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in a time of trouble.

Devotion:
Just how much faith would you have in a compulsive liar? Not much I bet! But how much faith would you have in a person who lies once in a while to get themselves out of trouble? Not much either because you would not know when they are telling a lie and when they are not. There is no way any one of us can ever say we have not told a lie in our lives... it's something that we actually learn at a very early age and becomes part of our life. What we have to do when we start to realise this is more like damage limitation than anything else.

Telling a lie about someone is probably the quickest way possible to make an enemy of them. People will normally understand why they get hit or why physical things happen to them, but deceit is something which runs deeper than we like to think. If we twist our ankles or break a tooth, we have physical pain telling us of the problem we have. We then do something to help fight that pain knowing we should no longer favour that foot or tooth until something is done. But when someone attacks your very spirit through lies, the hurt runs deep and lasts a long time. We feel like that part of our spirit is broken and, just like a broken foot, we no longer want to put weight on it. But as a foot heals, we can see the affects and feel the difference. Our inner spiritual healing may well be much harder to detect.

If we can tell so much from something which happens to us, why should we then ever inflict that on anyone else? Why should we even consider doing anything like that to anyone else? The truth is we don't normally consider it, we just do it! Because we have grown up in a society where reacting to things is normal, we react... and then it is too late... Taking one second to think before we do things will help us to live a more Godly life – what is one second compared to a life of hurt?

Points to Ponder:
How long do you remember the lies told against you?

God is there, willing to help you take a one second break before you break someone!