Sunday, February 22, 2009

Day 22. Camp

Proverbs 12:22
The LORD detests lying lips,
but he delights in men who are truthful.

There's no middle ground with God. I feel like I've been saying that same thing all week, but it's true. He's an extreme God. That's one of the many things I love about Him. He's not fuzzy. He doesn't mince words or leave things half said or ever waver on things. He detests lying. He delights in men who are truthful. It's not that He kind of doesn't sort of care for lying lips. It 's not that He probably maybe enjoys the occasional truthful statement.

He detests and delights.

He goes all the way and leaves us with little room for debate about what He feels about the words that come out of our mouths. He sets up two rival groups that are miles and miles away from each other. Detest and delight. So simple. So strong. So clear.

I am often tempted to see "exaggerating" as different from lying. This usually means puffing up my chest or meager accomplishments in life to appear cooler, smarter, more successful etc. when I meet new people. I want them to know right away that I'm special and important and worth something. Exaggerating though is just another form of lying. And I wish when I was tempted to do it, I would ask myself, "I am going to do something right now that God detests or delights in?"

6 comments:

Ed said...

And I wish when I was tempted to do it, I would ask myself, "Am I going to do something right now that God detests or delights in?"


That's an excellent question to ask, even better I think than WWJD.

Kenny said...

I believe my biggest lie is that I say, "I love God", and then I act like satan, and then I blame someone else for my actions.

I profess to love God. Someone hurts me or offends me. I respond or react unlike the God I profess to love. (bitterness, resentment, judgmental, unloving words and or actions) Then I blame the person who hurt or offended me for my actions.

If I love Him I will obey His commands. Like love your neighbor as yourself. Forgive others as I have forgiven you.

heartafire said...

Another great one, Jon.

essie said...

I'm really liking this Proverbs series. It's almost the only place I'm taking in God's word at the moment (other than when I actually listen at church), so I really appreciate the sacrifice of time you make to write it, Jon.

CJ Carr said...

Wow great post. Really challenges me to examine my own words that come out of my mouth. I love proverbs I try to read it each month and it really blesses me. I dig this current proverbs thing you have going, rocks me to the core. (ok can I say rocks me to the core? That seems kind of silly)

Anyway, I'm reading James right now and he totally harps on how we use our tongues. Really challenging stuff, I know I say things that don't honor God everyday.
Really challenging!

Anonymous said...

Great post but just wondering why this was called "Camp"?