I have someone I love dearly who is not true to her word. How can I ever trust her? Fortunately, I know Someone who is always true to His Word. Him I can always trust. You will keep in perfect peace, those whose minds are stayed on You, because they trust in You (Isaiah 26:3). An old southern song: I woke up this mornin’ with my mind, stayed on Jesus! . . . Trust, indeed, is a heavy word and a subject we dearly need. From the day we are born till the day we die, we need to trust someone. That someone may change overnight, but the need will always be there. God created us to need each other, but He did not make us trustworthy for each other. That is a subject we must learn and learn well. Because I wanted my children to learn that honesty is the best policy, I told them this: If you have done something wrong, if you have been naughty, you come and tell me about it; and if you tell me the honest truth, I will not punish you. But if you tell me about something you’ve done wrong, however, and you lie about it (like blaming someone else for the naughty thing you did) then I will punish you twice as hard as I should have punished you. That worked really well for their young years, but as they grew, they tested me several times. However, I was true to my word, and I punished them twice as much as what they deserved. It goes both ways!
Nothing is more important to a person’s character than his or her word. If we cannot trust what you say, then you are pretty much a worthless person. That sounds harsh, I know, but it is the truth. We have a saying in English: your word is your bond. A bond is an oath, a pledge, a union, an attachment, a sticking together like glue. For centuries men agreed with each other, gave their bond, by shaking hands. In some cultures, they gave the other party one of their sandals, or another object of value, but mostly men agreed by using words. Thus, we have the saying: a man is only as good as his word. The person I mentioned at the start can look me right in the eyes and tell me a blatant lie. Then she cries crocodile tears when no one trusts her. How can we? She needs to prove herself. She must prove, first to herself, then to others, that she is trustworthy—that we can count on what she says as being the absolute, full truth. I’m talking about a grown woman, not a child, who should have learned this lesson long ago. Society is adamant that we all learn to say what we mean and mean what we say, because successful business, successful relationships, successful parenting, all of societies interacting, depends on people telling the truth. The husband of a friend of mine made a fortune by conducting seminars for large corporations, teaching the employees to do what they say. Because every employee endeavored to make sure they did exactly what they said they would do, corporations saved mints of money. I have been a follower of Jesus Christ for almost forty years. I’ve never known Him to tell a “white-lie.” He has never disguised the truth to make it more palatable. He speaks to me directly, and that is what He wants from me. If I tell Him I will do such and such a thing, but I drag my feet, I have discovered He stops at the point of my foot-dragging and waits for me to correct my behavior until it matches my words. Then He resumes blessing me. Those of us who are born again have been gifted with grace by God. To me, grace is a big word. I can’t wrap my head around it, but I can pop my head up over the word “favor.” That’s what grace means: “favor.” Because my Lord favors me, I am blessed beyond comprehension! The Bible says He takes care of us; He provides for us; He heals us; and so on for a long, long list of blessings. But He will not tolerate being lied to. We have been given the gift of words. Words carry power. There is negative power and positive power, and both are administered by words. When my grandson was born, his parents called him a little monster! I went berserk! They thought I was ridiculous and laughed at me. So, I picked him up and said to him, “Are you a little monster? Which monster are you? Are you Frankenstein? Dracula?” and suddenly, the child’s parents saw the implications. The words we use will create what we say. Now they call him “Bear.” As a young teenager, his bedroom is his bear cave, and no one can enter that cave without the bear growling at us to get out! But he is the kind of bear that lets the little children climb all over him. Let me encourage you to watch your words. Practice daily to not say something unless you promise yourself to follow through and do it. Do your best to say only uplifting, encouraging words to all of those around you. The Favor of God is worth the effort!
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Marty
Delmon
Writer
Evangelist Teacher Writing has been in my blood, so to speak, but when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ and He told me to write, all my trepidations rolled away and I began in earnest! After all, if God Almighty says it was His idea that I be a writer, who am I to stand in His way? My hope is that you not only like what I write, but that your life is moved by it, and that your party to Jesus and with Jesus turns your life into days of Heaven on Earth.
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