“Therefore,
my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now
much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and
trembling, (13) for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to
fulfill his good purpose.”
A man was pulled
over for speeding. His dialogue with the police officer went like this:
Police officer: “Sir, why were you speeding?”
Driver: “Well officer, because I didn’t see you.”
And that’s the truth
isn’t it? I think its human nature to try
to get away with as much as can. How
fast can I drive without getting caught?
How much can I “adjust” my taxes without raising eyebrows at the IRS? How far can I go with my significant other
without having consequences? How much
can I fudge my hours without the boss noticing?
Opportunities to be disobedient abound…
And all disobedience
matters; not just the big ones. Lying is
lying, cheating is cheating, and stealing is stealing. The bank robber and the person who orders a
water at the counter but gets a Sprite at the drink station have the same
motivation: I want something and I don’t want to pay. The heart behind the big sin is the same as
the heart behind the small sin; and God is most concerned with our heart.
Take a hard look at
your life – are there areas where your integrity is slipping. Are you telling half-truths to put yourself
in a better light? Do you take anything
that doesn’t belong to you? Do you tell
the truth or what people want to hear?
And to go a little deeper, do you live and speak according to biblical
truth, or do you float along the tide of the world? Do you approve of sinful behavior in yourself
and others?
There are many
things that only Christ can do in our lives, but there are some things we can
do. And being honest is one of
them. As followers of Christ, we need to
do the right thing in every situation, no matter how small. We need to be obedient to the commands of
God, whether we are sitting next to our pastor or by ourselves. Because really…we are never by ourselves.
“Whoever is careless
with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters”
– Albert Einstein
“To believe in something, and not
to live it, is dishonest.” - Gandhi
No comments:
Post a Comment