Thought for the day
John and Bob were two of the bitterest golf rivals at the club. Neither man trusted the other's arithmetic. One day they were playing a heated match and watching each other like hawks.
After finishing on the fourth green and marking his six on the scorecard, John asked Bob, "What'd you have?" Bob went through the motions of mentally counting up. "Six!" he said and then hastily corrected himself. "No -- a five."
Calmly, John marked the scorecard, saying out loud "Eight!" "Eight?" Bob said, "I couldn't have had eight."John said, "Nope, you claimed six, then changed it to five. But actually you had seven." "Then why did you mark down eight?" asked Bob.John told him, "One stroke penalty, for improving your LIE."
Golfers are notorious for stretching the truth (that's a nice way of saying they lie), but they're certainly not the only ones who do so. In fact, you probably find that lying comes all too easy.
When we're caught doing something we shouldn't be doing, it's easy to lie to try to cover up our involvement. When we're asked to do something we don't want to do, it's easy to lie about plans we haven't made.
Unfortunately, every lie we tell makes it that much easier the next time. And some people have spent so much time "improving their lies" that they have trouble distinguishing between the real truth and the "truth" they have manufactured.
God is concerned that we be a people of truth. "Therefore, putting away lying, 'Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,' for we are members of one another." (Eph. 4:25)
Diogenes was a philosopher in ancient Greece. He was said to have walked through the streets of Athens, carrying a lighted lantern in broad daylight in a futile search for an honest man. There are people all around you who are searching for the same thing. May they find in you someone who will tell the truth, no matter what (even on the golf course!).
Verses
Matthew 24:35
The sky and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away unfulfilled.
Luke 8:11
"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Philippians 3:20
But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 15:7
If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, then you may ask what you want and it will take place for you.
Romans 5:17
For if, through the transgression of the one individual, Death made use of the one individual to seize the sovereignty, all the more shall those who receive God's overflowing grace and gift of righteousness reign as kings in Life through the one individual, Jesus Christ.
Prayer
Father, we long to hear Your voice which gives us direction, affirmation, conviction, reproof, and comfort. Help us with the spiritual exercise of observing how You are working in our own heart and in the lives of those around us. And we especially need to observe the ways You are present in the daily grind of life. The daily routine can easily squeeze out those special sightings of Your glorious presence and supernatural workings where You make visible that which is not seen with human eyes, but only through the eyes of faith. Faithful and True God, just as You formed the universe with Your own hands, You also shape the human heart with Your own Spirit, bringing it into conformity to Your will for our lives. Help us to surrender ourselves fully to You so that we are among those who have supernatural faith which makes us confident of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see with human eyes.
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