Reading your Bible for Today August 19

August 19: Ephesians 4:25-32

KJV Key Verse: Ephesians 4:25
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Devotion:
We often think that if we tell a “small white lie” it will help others, but in truth we are just not being honest with them. When it comes to them relying on us for an honest answer, they will then have their doubts about whether we are telling the truth. The truth may well hurt sometimes, but withholding the truth will have longer lasting repercussions than telling the truth up front. Imagine if you had a heart transplant... if the heart showed signs of rejection up front, they would have to do something before you leave the hospital... but if the heart could somehow “lie” about rejection until you went on holiday afterwards, things would not be so pleasant!

Having the truth withheld from us is probably one of the most common causes of stress and anger; and that is exactly what Satan is aiming for! He wants us to be stressed out or angry so he can have his way with us – those are the times we are less likely to depend on God for everything we need. Having someone steal stuff from you is another common cause for stress and anger.

If we are going to want to walk closer to God, then we are going to have to push aside the lies, push aside the stealing, and push aside the gossip. Each one of those will not only be hurting the person we are assaulting, but will also hurt God as well. We are all His creation. When we are saved we have The Holy Spirit living within us. We are not going to have the Holy Spirit leave us because He has promised to stay with us... but we may well be driving Him into a tight corner where we will not hear from Him!

The best way forward is to follow these words from Paul's letter to the Ephesians: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:” Stop doing it! It is hard, but we can do it – with God we can do anything! Put it behind you and turn on a different face of kindness and tender-heartedness.

Points to Ponder:
How many times have you lied recently?

How many more times are you willing to upset God?