The Wages of Deceit – from Grace for the Moment

Well this morning I went to read the daily thought for today from Grace for the Moment and thought, “oh man, not another lecture one.”  As the previous day seemed along that line – didn’t seem relative for the day.  But as I began to read todays, it turned out to be a great message.  Sometimes it takes hearing something in a different way to really click in your mind.  Here’s what it said.

 

Psalm 101:7  No one who is dishonest will live in my house; no liars will stay around me.

More than once I’ve heard people refer to the story [of Anaias and Sapphira] with a nervous chuckle and say, “I’m glad God doesn’t still strike people dead for lying.”  I’m not sure he doesn’t.  It seems to me that the wages of deceit is still death.  Not death of the body, perhaps, but the death of:

a marriage – falsehoods are termites in the trunk of the family tree.

a conscience – The tragedy of the second lie is that it is always easier than the first.

a career – Just ask the student who got booted out for cheating or the employee who got fired for embezzlement if the lie wasn’t fatal…

We could also list the deaths of intimacy, trust, peace, credibility, and self-respect.  But perhaps the most tragic death that occurs from deceit is our [Christian] witness.  The court won’t listen to the testimony of a perjured witness.  Neither will the world.

~ by letlightshine on September 7, 2008.