Standing Apart

Another from my walk along the beach. Actually these were up in the dunes. I liked the color of the shell as it blended in with the sand. The wind was blowing the sand around the shell creating the patterns in mini dunes.

Well anyway, I have always been taught that a man is only as good as his word. Ones word should be his bond. A hand shake is as good as any legal document. And that is how God wants us to be. To be set apart from the world which is deceitful and full of lies. They belongs to the king of lies. The dark prince.

"Blind guides! How terrible it will be for you! For you say that it means nothing to swear 'by God's Temple' -- you can break that oath. But then you say that it is binding to swear 'by the gold in the Temple.' Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold, or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? And you say that to take an oath 'by the altar' can be broken, but to swear 'by the gifts on the altar' is binding! How blind! For which is greater, the gift on the altar, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? When you swear 'by the altar,' you are swearing by it and by everything on it. And when you swear 'by the Temple,' you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. And when you swear 'by heaven,' you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne."

-- Matthew 23:16-22 (NLT)

Of course the bottom line for Jesus is that we shouldn't have to swear by anything: our yes, our word, should be enough. But to make matters worse, they went beyond swearing to a developed theology of what things by which you swear are most important. Jesus is angry because the simple truth has been complicated and comprised by petty distinctions in legal terminology. Jesus' anger should be felt by believers today. In an age of sound bites, spin, and hedging the truth through"legalize," we as Christians must be a people who simply speak the truth openly, honestly, and without compromise, but always in love.

Almighty and true God, give me a pure heart free of deceit. Help my words be true and have no need of nuance or fine print to be proved accurate and reliable. As your word is true, I want the words of my mouth to be accurate and to please you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

One quick addition. It has been my experience that if I don't live or act in a way that sets the need to have to lie, then I want ever need to. A battle for me is fixing to begin. As I take up my cross and carry my yoke solo against the giants of the state and their insurance companies, I have only 2 things working for me. The main one is God is in my corner and I have truth at my side. God has given me the rock that will knock down Goliath just as He gave it to David.

God bless.

Shalom

dns