Thursday May 12, 2011

Speaker: Ben Sigman

Theme: Scrabble

Weekend Music links on iTunes: My Savior Lives - Desperation Band, All to You - Lincoln Brewster, Attention - Know Hope Collective, How He Loves - John Mark McMillan

Read: James 3:1-13

Think: I once had a friend who had a habit that drove me a little crazy, she exaggerated about everything! Every time she would tell a story, the account just got bigger and bigger and more and more unbelievable…  It really got to the point where I couldn’t ever tell where the fact ended and the fiction began. So I couldn’t trust much of what she said. This reminded me of another facet of this week’s study of the words we speak.

My friend’s case was a little on the extreme side but I don’t think she was alone in her propensity to spin a bit of a tall tale. In fact I think a lot of us have found ourselves in a pattern of exaggeration. Sometimes it’s “harmless” and we just want to entertain others, and sometimes it’s to close a deal at the office where we need to expand the true capabilities of the widget we’re selling or the services we provide… Sometimes it’s much worse than that.

We need to start by calling it what it is – it isn’t just stretching the truth, its lying. (Funny how we often downgrade our favorite sins by giving them more acceptable names... Our bad temper we call “moody”; our untruthfulness, “exaggeration”; our dishonesty we call “shading the truth.”)

There’s only one way to overcome these (or any) sins, we need to bring them out in the open, call them honestly by name, and sincerely repent. Here’s why:  He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy (Proverbs 28:13).

Do: Next time you are tempted to embellish the truth, remember James’ wisdom: “the tongue is a little member and boasts great things” (James 3:5). Limit your words to the truth and keep your story straight.

Pray: Lord, show me where I try to cover the sin in my life with terms that are more palatable. I want to be honest in what words I speak. Help me to see where I tend to embellish and add to what’s true, to admit where I’ve been dishonest and to move forward committed to telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.