I have always liked to take people at their word, or believe what it is they are saying is true. I don’t wait for someone to say”I give you my word” because the scripture is clear, “The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in people who are trustworthy.”(Proverbs 12:22) Maybe in this failing world I am a bit too gullible! Now I have sat through high-pressure sales presentations and listened in person and on the phone to all types of silver-tongued sales folks and even some election minded politicians as well. If elected, I will…. Let my hold my breath for that one!!! Perhaps these folks weren’t totally lying but at times, they sure were stretching the truth a bit. I have heard it said that you can tell if a salesman is lying if you see their mouth moving! Well, some of them anyway! We certainly do need sales folks. I also knew a man who owned a soft drink bottling company and one day at a sales meeting, one of his sales people was drinking a competitor’s soft drink and they were fired on the spot. He told them to work for the other company, after all that is what they truly supported!
A lot of these exaggeration tactics lead us to expect more than we actually receive. We form some level of trust with what we are told and in our belief we become vulnerable and we become a victim of being misled. In my former profession in electronic security and fire, I had always tried to be a straight-shooter with no closing pressure, trusting more in God to provide than my ability to close the deal. I wanted to be a man of integrity! I wanted the people I was pitching or presenting to, to have a clear understanding of what I recommend from my years of experience and what exactly we would provide. However I am sure in all the years and in many different roles; I have inevitably misled a few folks though.
As for the half-truths, I am also quite a silver-tongue salesman myself! After all, being a king is always more attractive than being a servant! Or it is always easier to find fault in others than it is to thoroughly examine my own inventory. My blindness conveniently hides my faults and I usually don’t stumble around trying to find them! Without the light of eternal vision, darkness encumbers my path to salvation! My soul is blinded by my love for Satan and the death he is promoting! We read in Paul’s letter to the Celtics in Galatia: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also be walking by the Spirit.” [Gal. 5:25] I need more time in reflection, prayer and confession so that I may too wash my blindness in the pool of Siloam.
We heard it read in the Gospel this morning, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that everyone who believeth in Him should not perish, but may have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) What does that mean to me, believe in Him? Let’s see, if I put all of my trust and hope in the Lord I would want to be the kind of man whose love and actions points to the Lord wouldn’t I? And then John sums it all up for us: “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” [Jn. 3:20]
Just what do people see when they see me? Freeing ourselves from a deceptive world is a life-long challenge! Maybe with the loving patience of my Father, I may one day become a great salesman for Christ and a man with divine integrity!
“O my plenteously merciful and all merciful God, Lord Jesus Christ, through Thy great love Thou didst come down and become incarnate so that Thou mightest save all. And again, O Saviour. save me by Thy grace, I pray Thee. For if Thou shouldst save me for my works, this would not be grace or a gift, but rather a duty; yea, Thou Who art great in compassion and ineffable in mercy. For he that believeth in Me, Thou hast said, O my Christ, shall live and never see death. If, then, faith in Thee saveth the desperate, behold, I believe, save me, for Thou art my God and Creator. Let faith instead of works be imputed to me, O my God, for Thou wilt find no works which could justify me. But may my faith suffice instead of all works, may it answer for, may it acquit me, may it make me a partaker of Thine eternal glory. And let Satan not seize me and boast, O Word, that he hath torn me from Thy hand and fold. But whether I desire it or not, save me, O Christ my Saviour, forestall me quickly, quickly, for I perish. Thou art my God from my mother's womb. Vouchsafe me, O Lord, to love Thee now as fervently as I once loved sin itself, and also to work for Thee without idleness, diligently, as I worked before for deceptive Satan. But supremely shall I work for Thee, my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, all the days of my life, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.” [Morning Prayers from the “Jordanville” Prayer Book]
