Tag: lies

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1 Samuel Devotionals

An honorable man?

1 Samuel

So Achish summoned David and told him, “As the Lord lives, you are an honorable man.” (1 Samuel 29:6)

Achish’s words are probably among the most ironic in the entire Bible.

He swears by the God that David serves that David is an honorable man.

This despite the fact that David has been lying to him for over a year.

And right after Achish says that, David lies to him again, speaking as if he is a faithful servant to Achish.

The Bible never comments on David’s inner thoughts at Achish’s words nor on God’s thoughts concerning David’s actions.

But I can’t help but think that looking back, David prayed, “Lord, I blew it. Forgive me. I haven’t been an honorable man. But I want to be.”

Lord, I, like David, do not always live honorably. Forgive me for the times I’ve stained your name by my actions.

Let my every word, every action, every thought be pleasing in your sight, O Lord.

Thank you for the grace by which I stand. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Ezekiel Devotionals

Falsely promising life

Ezekiel

I don’t typically read the New Living Translation, but I have been listening to an audio Bible using that translation recently.

And today, this word struck me:

And you have encouraged the wicked by promising them life, even though they continue in their sins. (Ezekiel 13:22)

There is much turmoil in the church today, with a lot of people taking on standards, not of God, but of the world around us. (Ezekiel 11:12)

But throughout chapter 13, God condemns the “prophets” for whitewashing the sins of the people. For saying the people had peace with God, when in reality they had no peace at all.

Why didn’t these people have true peace with God? Because instead of repenting and turning from their sins, they continued in them.

We cannot do what these “prophets” did. We cannot encourage the wicked, promising them life when they have no life.

We cannot whitewash their sin, calling the evil they do “good.”

For if we do, God will not only judge them but will hold us responsible for those false promises we gave them.

So let us not falsely promise people life when they have no life.

Rather let us boldly proclaim the truth so that they might repent and find true life.

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1 John

What Satan tries to sell us

1 John

I think it is easy sometimes to think of Satan merely as that roaring lion. The one who out and out seeks to destroy us.

But the truth is that as often as he takes that tactic, he also takes the tactic of the harmless sheep. That’s clearly seen in the Antichrist.

We hear the word Antichrist, and we immediately think of him as this terrible figure who will wreak havoc on the world. And he will.

But before he does so, he will appear to be like Christ. As someone who is looking to bring peace and salvation to this world.

He has yet to come (so far as we know).

But throughout history, even in the time of John, there were many antichrists, people who appeared to be harmless, who in fact seemed be a blessing to the church, but who instead spread deadly poison in the church and who had to be cast out.

John says of them,

They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. (1 John 2:19)

What kind of poison were they spreading? The same kind of poison that’s spreading even now: a denial of Christ.

There are many people who have no problem saying, “I believe in God” or “I believe in a higher power.” That concept is not offensive to them at all. But bring up Jesus Christ and their whole tone changes. He is an utter offense to them.

But John tells us,

Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist — he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. (22-23)

In other words, you cannot truly claim to believe in God if you reject Jesus. To deny Jesus is to deny God himself. Why? Because Jesus is God.

That was one of the things that the Jews failed to understand in Jesus’ day. That the Christ is divine.

And so when Jesus asked them, “Why, if the Christ is David’s son, does David call him Lord? If David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son,” they were stumped. (Matthew 22:42, 45)

The answer is that not only is Christ the son of David, but he is God himself. Jesus said as much. (John 8:58, John 10:30-33).

But people will go out of their way to deny that. They will call him a prophet, a good man, even the Son of God. All of them are true. But he is also God, and has been from all eternity. And to deny that is to swallow the poison that Satan is selling.

So John tells us,

See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us — even eternal life. (24-25)

The ultimate question that everyone has to answer is this: “What do you think of Christ? Whose Son is he?”

Your eternal destiny rests on your answer.

Who do you say that he is?

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Titus

Standing for truth

Stand for truth

This is the last of the pastoral letters, in which Paul instructs a man named Titus on what he needed to do with the churches in Crete.

Apparently, there was a lot of false teaching there, similar to what Timothy was facing in Ephesus. There were those getting into myths and genealogies on one hand, and legalism on the other.

All this despite the fact that these churches were still relatively young.

Also, because of their immaturity in Christ, the people had little idea of what it meant to live holy lives.

So from the very beginning, Paul talks about how God called him for the sake of the believers that they may know the truth, a truth cannot be separated from godliness.

And it’s a truth, Paul says, that leads to eternal life which God has promised to all who believe. (Titus 1:2-3)

But because of a lack of leadership in these young churches, Paul tells Titus to appoint elders/overseers in the churches. They were in effect to be the pastors of these churches.

And as with Timothy, Paul tells them there are two important things a pastor or elder must have.

The first is character, that they must be above approach as people. (Titus 1:6-8)

The second is that they hold to the truth and that they relay it to those God has put in their charge. The reason?

For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group.

They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach–and that for the sake of dishonest gain.

Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” (Titus 1:10-12)

Even in the church today, we see much of the same thing. People who don’t like what God has taught in his Word and corrupt it. People who lead entire families away from Christ by teaching things that are false.

Some, as in the case of Cretan teachers, do so for the sake of money.

Others corrupt it because they have bought the lie that we have to earn our salvation and that God’s grace is not enough.

Others corrupt it because it teaches against the kind of life they want to live.

But in each case, Paul tells Titus,

Rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith. (1:13)

In short, stand for the truth. Don’t just let lies slip by unchallenged. God is a God who never lies, and we are to imitate him. (1:2)

There are many, Paul says, who profess to know God, but by their works and by their teaching deny him. Why? Because their minds and consciences are corrupt. They simply do not want to accept the truth. But Paul charges Titus,

You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. (2:1)

Though others may stray from the truth, we are to stand for it. And we are not to compromise.

How about you? Do you stand for truth? Or do you let lies slip by, letting people go to their own destruction. Even worse, do you twist the truth to suit your own sinful desires?

We will stand before God someday based on what we did with his truth. What will he say to you on that day?

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Jeremiah

Deceptive hearts, lying tongues

Jeremiah

If there’s one thing I try to be, it’s to be honest.  I don’t even care to tell white lies very often. 

If I don’t want to do something, I’ll just say so.  Nicely, but honestly. 

If I don’t like something, I’ll usually go by the maxim, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” 

If I do have to say something, I try (although I admittedly don’t always succeed) to do it gently.

There are two reasons for this: 

One, I’m not a good liar anyway. 

But secondly, and more importantly, God calls us to be honest.  He hates deceptive hearts and lying tongues.  And that’s what we see here. 

He told Jeremiah,

They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me,” declares the Lord. 

“Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers.  For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer. Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. 

You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the Lord. 

Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:  “See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people? 

Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks with deceit. With his mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.  (Jeremiah 9:3-8)

That’s a pretty miserable picture God paints.  A picture where you can’t even trust your own family or friends.  Tongues as smooth as silk, but hearts filled with poison. 

And God says of these kinds of people,

“Should I not punish them for this?” declares the Lord.  “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?”  (Jeremiah 9:9)

What kind of person are you? 

Do you teach your tongue how to lie?  Or do you teach it how to speak the truth in love? 

Is your mouth filled with deceit?  Or is it full of integrity?

When you talk with your wife or your husband, do you hide things from them?  Or are you completely open with them? 

When you talk with your business clients, do you keep things from them in order to win the contract?  Or are you completely honest and above board with them? 

Do you speak soft words to people, while despising them in your heart?  Or are you learning to love them as Jesus does, matching both your heart and words?

God says that people that live lives of deceit are failing to acknowledge him in their lives. 

God is truth.  And so he calls us to live truthful lives.

How truthful are you?