Be real

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

BE REAL

Prov 26:24-26

24 A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but in his heart he harbors deceit.  25 Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart. 26 His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

NIV

Here is somebody we do not want anything to do with. As the captain of the Red October said when he encountered the captain of the Dallas, “Let’s give this American a wide birth”, which meant, let’s keep our distant. We need to give this silver tongued charmer a wide birth. If we want to see one of these types we need only turn on the television to some evangelistic programming. Not all of them are like this, but when they spend so much time asking for the watchers to send them money so they can keep their important “Ministry” going, we have to know the charmer is playing his tune. This person has traveled the countryside with some of those charmers in the past, when we did publicity photography for them. We have seen firsthand some of the deceptive ways they would fleece their audience of funds. Their words are so smooth, so charming, but in reality their deal is to enhance their own lifestyle. We are being warned by God to steer clear of them. Yet, it seems too many believers are being sucked in by their charming words that God is obligated to bless us, if we will only give them our money. It is not hard to see the deception. If we give, God will bless us; God will provide us with all we ever need, but we have to give them our money, then why wouldn’t God provide all they need? They don’t need our money, they only need to trust God, but no, they trust us. Now on the other hand, we have to make sure we are not anything like them in any way. We cannot put on that façade, that deceptive front, saying all the right words to make people think we are holy and upright in all our ways. We cannot disguise ourselves as being that perfectly “Good Christian” while we harbor any falsehoods in our heart. No, we have to be who we are. What you see is what you get type of person. The reality is we all have some sins in our lives and we all are not that perfect Christian, so let us not present that idea with our lips, or our behavior will surely be seen in the assembly. Although it is true in the eyes of God we are already spotless, holy and blameless, but in this life, we are still dealing with the reality of the flesh. Yes, we are supposed to put to death the flesh and allow Christ to live in us, as us and then we will be holy. But we still live in this flesh too. We still have to put up with the human desires. We cannot ignore them, they are not just going to go away. So let us not pretend to be who we are not. Let us not deceive anyone, least of all ourselves. Although we can keep away from those silver tongued charmers, we cannot escape ourselves. So let what is real be real.