Get the appWiser and Happier: Special Military Edition from Time of GraceSample
Personal Integrity: Tell the truth
“In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” You know who said that? I bet you think it was Hitler or Goebbels. Actually, it was Winston Churchill.
Not that human beings need much urging or rationale for lying, even from Churchill. We were all born children of Satan, and Satan’s native language is lying. Jesus called him the father of lies, a liar from the beginning. Truth telling is learned behavior, and it’s hard. From young on, children learn how easy it can be to evade responsibility, divert blame, cause trouble for others, and get things through lies.
Lying poisons our minds, and persistent lying leaves us so confused that we can no longer recognize the truth. “The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in [people] who are truthful” (Proverbs 12:22).
Some truths are not to be told to everyone. Sometimes you are not allowed to tell anyone outside of your command exactly where you are and exactly what you’re doing. I understand that. But you’ve been entrusted with a truth that is to be told to everyone: the truth that Jesus Christ came into this world to save every man, woman, and child from their crimes against God’s law. That truth ought never to be hidden. In fact, it will show itself in our willingness to accept responsibility and in our honest dealings with other people.
Pray with me: Lord, anoint my lips today. Let me choose to speak the truth, and let me bite back a lie, even when it costs me something.
“In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” You know who said that? I bet you think it was Hitler or Goebbels. Actually, it was Winston Churchill.
Not that human beings need much urging or rationale for lying, even from Churchill. We were all born children of Satan, and Satan’s native language is lying. Jesus called him the father of lies, a liar from the beginning. Truth telling is learned behavior, and it’s hard. From young on, children learn how easy it can be to evade responsibility, divert blame, cause trouble for others, and get things through lies.
Lying poisons our minds, and persistent lying leaves us so confused that we can no longer recognize the truth. “The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in [people] who are truthful” (Proverbs 12:22).
Some truths are not to be told to everyone. Sometimes you are not allowed to tell anyone outside of your command exactly where you are and exactly what you’re doing. I understand that. But you’ve been entrusted with a truth that is to be told to everyone: the truth that Jesus Christ came into this world to save every man, woman, and child from their crimes against God’s law. That truth ought never to be hidden. In fact, it will show itself in our willingness to accept responsibility and in our honest dealings with other people.
Pray with me: Lord, anoint my lips today. Let me choose to speak the truth, and let me bite back a lie, even when it costs me something.
Scripture
About this Plan
The experience of serving your country overseas--and sometimes seeing firsthand man’s inhumanity to man--may teach you important lessons about life while turning your stomach at the same time. But recognize that God has an even better way for us to learn life wisdom, a way that continually draws us closer to him no matter how far from family or church we might be. Because of his great love for us, he would much rather make us wiser through words. In this way we wouldn’t be sadder but wiser; we would be wiser and happier. The Bible’s book of Proverbs is an absolute gold mine of wisdom for the daily decisions you must make. It will help you develop your personal values and tune your life’s agenda more closely to resemble God’s.
More
We would like to thank Time of Grace Ministry for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: www.timeofgrace.org
Related Plans
The Greatest Warrior
Living With Honor
Reintegration After Deployment
A Leader You Can Trust
Battles And Front Lines Devotional By Rita Springer
A Servant's Heart
The Ultimate Peace Mission
Horizon Church November Bible Reading Plan: A Call to Holiness - 1 & 2 Corinthians
Becoming Weightless
