O Lord, I give my life to you. I trust in you, my God! Do not let me be disgraced, or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat. No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others. Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.
Psalm 25:1-5
A member of the governing board of a church convinced
the board to ask the pastor to resign. The pastor responded to the board
at the next meeting that God had called him to this church, and he did not
sense his work was yet finished, so he would not resign. The board member
quickly replied: Well, God may have brought you here, but
we’re getting shed of you!
Some stuff that is said may
sound good. Sometimes church leaders, pastors, board
chairs, committees and members say things that may express what the majority of
a group thinks, but that does not always mean they’ve found God’s will.
Sometimes they’ve only found a way to rationalize a decision that allows them
to ignore God’s will, while still keeping the appearance that they’re spiritual.
The real issue is greed or control. You can do that if you’re willing to
parade lies as truth. But there is a cost to doing it; the contention
between the governing board and pastor of that church was 35 years ago. The churchbuilding
is still standing today, but it is used for a community center now.[1]
Deception has always been common to the human
condition. Adam and Eve imagined to
avoid contact with God after sinning.
Their son, Cain, tried to deflect God’s question about what Cain had
done to his brother, Abel. And, so-on
throughout human history.
In today’s culture the deception dance
around truth has become something of an epidemic. In business and politics you have the cliché expectant
behavior, as in: How can you tell
if a politician is lying? Answer: His lips are moving. But that which is cliché in the obvious public
targets is now commonplace in families, friends, and even church.
From whence cometh this devaluing of truth? According to Jesus, it is the Prince
of Darkness who pushes this behavior. When the Pharisees were debating with Jesus
about heritage and privilege, their obtuse attitude needed a little
rebuking.
For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:44
For You Today
Today’s choices will include that inconvenient
fork in the road: truth or deception.
There are about 2,000 devotional
posts on Rocky Road Devotions.
To
dig deeper into today’s topic or Scripture text: Faith Finding the Path to Do
Right and Lenten Walk - Part 2
[1] Images: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
[1] From a previous post, Parading Lies as Truth
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