Topic: A Reputation for Truth — Friday September 1, 2017.
Text: Psalm 119:25-32
Key Verse: “Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me” (Psalms 119:29,30).
At a county fair, a distinctively dressed Quaker offered a horse for sale. A non-Quaker farmer asked its price, and since Quakers had a reputation for fair dealing, he bought the horse without hesitation. The farmer got the horse home, only to discover it was lazy and ill-tempered; so, he took it back to the fair the next day.
There he confronted the Quaker. “Thou hast no complaint against me,” said the Quaker. “Had thou asked me about the horse, I would have told thee truthfully the problems, but thou didst not ask.” “That’s okay,” replied the farmer, “I don’t want you to take the horse back. I want you to try to sell him to someone else. Heaven-bound believers are not allowed to be like the Quaker in the above story. Believers must have a reputation for telling the truth. Our Bible text portrays the believer as someone who abhors lying and chooses the way of truth deliberately.
There is no middle ground of neutrality between truth and falsehood; if you are not in the way of truth, then definitely you are in the way of error. Men do not just drop into the right way by chance; they must choose it and continue therein or else wander away from it. Also highlighted in the text is the fact that there is a practical way of holiness which we must diligently follow, in spite of the odds we might face.
As believers in Christ, we must live up to divine expectation. Interestingly, the Spirit of God in us will not lead us in the way of error and falsehood. So, we must be careful not learn sinful habits of joking with lies and deceit. The devil does not consider lies as jokes because he is a liar and the author of it. Choosing the way of truth begins with salvation experience and continues with abiding in Christ, His word and fellowship with fellow believers.
Thought for the day: A liar is a character assassinator of self.
Bible Reading in one Year: Leviticus 1-4
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
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