The Costumes | Frank Becker

Week Thirty-Two, 2024

The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in people who are trustworthy (Proverbs 12:22).

He was a friend and a respected member of the community. We served in public office together and I enjoyed serving with him. But then one day, he told me a story about a recent family cruise. It seems that there was a costume party on board and prior to leaving they purchased costumes for the whole family.

They enjoyed the costume party and when they returned, they put all the costumes in the box they came in, made some excuse and returned them for a full refund. He was proud of how much it cost him….. nothing…to have the costumes for the party.

Well, then my whole attitude about him changed. There are few things in the world more important than honesty and integrity. If he would steal from the costume company, then he would steal from me.

Honesty means being truthful and transparent in one’s actions and words, while integrity is adhering to a strong moral code and principles. Together, they create the foundation for trust and mutual respect in relationships. When people are honest and have integrity, they are dependable and reliable. Either you have them, or you don’t.

My father used to say that his word was his bond. What he said he would do, he did. The Bible is replete with verses about honesty, because honesty is integral to developing a deep relationship with God.

Second Timothy 2:15 admonishes us to do our best to present ourselves to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Proverbs speaks volumes about honesty. The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight. Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

Honesty is marked as being free from deceit or untruthfulness, being sincere. The Christian life should be one marked with integrity and honesty, yet because we all sin and find it easy to do so, honesty is something we must work hard at! An honest life is important on so many levels from relationships with spouses and children, at our workplace, and interacting with our neighbors.

Be careful to not lose your honesty with the little things, for it will infest you with the big things as well.

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SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM EDGAR APONTE:

• We cannot bless the Lord when we are acting like the world.

• Every trial in life will bring a temptation.

• Resist the temptation to respond to trials with deception. Instead, seek and trust God.

• God keeps His people, even when His people fail to trust Him. Rest in Him.

• People of faith can fail, but their failure is not the final word. If you failed, repent and trust God’s faithfulness.

• There’s more grace in Christ than there is sin in us.

• Face life’s challenges not with fear but with faith.

• God keeps His promise even when His people endanger its fulfillment with their unfaithfulness.

— o —

Tips on how to fall asleep in a living room chair:

• Be old

• Sit in a chair

— o —

During my career in business, I was a list maker. I would spend some time the night before listing those things I wanted to accomplish the next day. At times the list would become quite detailed as to the where and when and expectation.

Seldom, however, was I able to fully complete everything on the list. I was not able to get all the information I needed. My appointment got tied up in another meeting. The weather was too foul. And I had planned so carefully!

I finally came to the understanding that the future, even the next day, was truly in God’s hands. I would find later that I shouldn’t have that account. Things weren’t really as critical as I thought. So, “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” James 4:15

God is big enough to handle your tomorrows. Rich Jensen

QUOTES YOU CAN USE

Worship is not a sixty-minute period during a church service; it’s a lifestyle.

When everything seems like it is falling apart, that’s when God is putting thing together in just the way He wants it.

Great leaders are not the best at everything. They find people who are the best at different things and get them all on the same team.

You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from. Cormac McCarthy

Our identity is that we are children of God. Instead of worrying and getting anxious about the things that are overlapped from the yesterdays, our endeavor should be to renew the image of God in us which will guide us to a peaceful and successful day ahead of us. Stephen Bernard

It’s a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn’t want to hear. Dick Cavett

God canceled your plans to save your life. He sent you the other direction to avoid danger. He fights battles you know nothing about. His plan is better than yours. If God is good to you, Praise Him, Amen! David Jeremiah

God’s view and our view of death tend to be different. We see death as the end. God sees it as a beginning. From God’s viewpoint death is not permanent. It is a necessary step for passing from this world to the next. From God’s perspective death is a small price to pay for the privilege of sitting at his table. The scripture says, “Flesh and blood cannot have a part in the kingdom of God…This body that can be destroyed must clothe itself with something that can never be destroyed” (1 Corinthians 15:50, 53 NCV). In other words, we must die for our body to be exchanged for a new one. So, from God’s viewpoint death is not to be dreaded; it is to be welcomed. Max Lucado

Whatever happens, whenever something hits us without warning…God is Above All and there to turn to and return to. Scott Whitaker

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Inspiration is merely the reward for working every day. Charles Baudelai

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