Reading your Bible for today June 12

June 12: Proverbs 23:6-8

KJV Key Verse: Proverbs 23:7
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

Devotion:
Being able to spot people who are not sincere is something we often learn the hard way by being let down time and time again. We trust in someone because of what they say and do to or for us and before long we find out the hard way they did not actually mean what they said and they let us down just when we need them most. As we continue in our lives we learn to be able to tell the genuine people from those who are not.

What we must also be learning is how we should not be wanting after the things that they do and have! They have got where they are in life by the lifestyle they have lived to so far. They may have achieved whatever they have by living a lie which they continue to do so. How can anything in life be worth the heartache which those lies generate. It is not just the bad feelings of those who are let down, but the constant building up of those feelings within themselves too. With each lie, they build up more evil within themselves until such time as it becomes the natural thing to do.

In that state, nobody can hope to come close to God! Just the first 'little' lie alone is enough to separate us from Him. Building lie upon lie is like building a huge wall around yourself to keep everyone out, including God. Not only that, but in doing so you have trapped yourself in a situation where you no longer have an escape route! That is when you need the help of someone else to start to work your way out.

We need to learn how to spot people who are building those walls around themselves so we can avoid them if they are intent in continuing to build those separations. We also need to spot that same situation within ourselves – we need to spot it before the walls we are building completely surrounds ourselves!

Points to Ponder:
Are you or your friends building hidden walls around yourselves?

Are you trying to hide yourself from God, or are you doing it without knowing it?