Wednesday, September 13, 2017

September 13 Thought for the day...we must do real


Working in Christian Television for over 30 years I was blessed with building relationships with so many honest, caring, truly devout, and devoted Christian leaders from around the world. Christian Television took some hits because of a lack of integrity in some. However, my experience was that the majority were real. There were the fake and the phony who acted Jesus like when the camera was on, but it didn't take long to see their true colors. It hurt me to see many flocking to these personalities who were living a lie. Paul dealt with this in the Colossian church.

"Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds." Colossians 3:9

You may not realize it, but this is something most Christians struggle within their personal lives. When we think of a "lie," we think of someone speaking an untruth but the word Paul uses here speaks so much more. The word translated "lie" means any type of falsehood. It portrays someone who misrepresents who they are by what they do, by what they say, by the fact or truth they purport to be true, or by twisting the facts.

You may not set out to deliberately lie, but so often people get caught in a trap of exaggerating a story to make it sound better, to embellish something to make you look better, or to embellish something to make someone look worse. To this point, I have found it depends on what pain people live in, as to how they react to embellish for good or evil. Titus 1:15 says "To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled." I have had innuendo spoken about me on numerous occasions by Christians and found every time it is their pain and fear that causes them to lie. A pure heart will strive to speak the truth at any cost. A corrupt heart lives damaged until they are forced to deal with the truth.

Why is this so important? There is a general lack of integrity in politics, business, Hollywood, Facebook, Twitter, and the news. The saddest part is the church has been known in some ways to have a general lack of integrity as well. If we find ourselves in need of living a false life or creating a false narrative about others, we are not trusting the Lord. What's sad is the things we may exaggerate or lie about may be things the Lord wants to bless us with but our lack of trust guarantees we will never see them.

Think about your goals, your job, your family, and your life. Do you want the Lord's blessing on all of these areas? Do you want His wisdom, insight, guidance, and blessing on all of these things? We must choose to stop misrepresenting ourselves, twisting the facts or the truth about others. Our dealings in business, in our relationships, and life must be true.

Years ago when I opened my pizza business I was told by my supplier don't keep everything on the books or you will never make any money. I did keep everything on the books, and our business became the number and most profitable pizza business in our area for all the time I was there. Choosing to not present a false image or live a falsehood like lying to the IRS are all things that stop Gods blessings. God wants us real, trustworthy, and with integrity. Want God's blessing? Let's do real!

By the way, the photo is on our wall in our church!


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