PASTOR JACK'S THOUGHTS    JANUARY 25, 2010

HONESTY IS GOD'S POLICY
The eighth commandment, as recorded in Exodus 20:15 says, "You shall not steal!"  God requires that His children practice honesty always.  We often think, "But I don't steal from anyone."  According to God's Word, there are many ways of stealing! How about stealing someone's reputation by ill spoken gossip? How about using someone's written thoughts and ideas and  as your own in school work?  How about stealing from God?!! Yes, that is recorded in God's Word in Malachi 3:8-10  "Will a man (person) rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!!"  The verses that follow tell us that when we do not give God's tithe and offerings back to Him, we have stolen from God!  How dreadful.  Think about it, honesty and giving are 'twin' virtues in the Christian's life.  We are to be honest with God and with our fellow humans!  God requires it!!  We give back to God a portion of our earnings in order to be honest to Him.  In turn, we also give our time, love, help and sometimes money to others in a kind and gracious way.

Honesty is God's policy!! He desires that His children be like Him.  When we think about God, we see that
He is honest and he has given to so gracious to give us His gifts. Also, we know that we can never out give Him! Let us all take stock of our own attitudes toward honesty and giving this week. We need to be sure that we are following God's policy in His Word.  It is not a policy that we can overlook.  Let us ask ourselves this week:
  1. Am I being honest with God by giving my tithe and offerings on a regular basis?
  2. Am I being honest with others?  Are the words of my mouth stealing someone's self esteem or reputation?
  3. Do I too readily take something that belongs to someone else and say, "Well, they aren't using it or they have too much of this or that anyway. I'll just take a little!"
  4. Am I stealing someone's happiness by hurtful, unkind and critical words?

Oh yes, there are many ways of breaking God's commandment, "You shall not steal!!"  Let us watch and be careful to be honest in all our ways.  Then we can pray with Job (Job 31:6) "Let God weigh ME (my life) in honest scales!"  We can trust Him to be honest so let us do the same!

Be Honest With All,
Pastor Jack

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