Friend or Foe?

Sometimes the person we think of as a friend could in reality be our worst enemy; likewise, the person we think of as an enemy could actually be the best friend we ever had.

For instance; The "friend" who supplies you with drugs or assists in other destructive behaviors is not a friend at all. A true friend would never hurt you or help you hurt yourself.

You may consider the cop who gave you a DUI an enemy, when he may haved saved you from permanent brain injury or many years in prison for killing someone in your drunken state. If he indeed saved you from something like that, and there is no way to know, you should look at him as one of the best friends you have ever had.

One of the cruelest things you can do is to tell a "friend" that everything is ok and that they will be all right because you don't want to hurt their feelings or injure your relationship. You may in reality be their worst enemy by withholding information they really need to know.

The Old Testament prophets were killed by those they were trying to help - because the people didn't like the message being delivered. Their friend was considered an enemy. The false prophet told them what they wanted to hear and aided in their destruction. Was he their friend? No, their worst enemy.

Jesus was accused of being demon possessed and doing miracles by the power of Satan because the "religious" people could not handle what He had to say. He was acting as a true friend but was considered an enemy. Actually He is the best Friend anyone could ever have.

Friend or Foe? Take another look from a different perspective. You might want to change your mind about who is friend and who is foe.

The Deepest Theological Truth

A famous and learned theologian was once asked, "What is the deepest theological truth."

His answer: Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.



The love of God is greater far than toungue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned from his sin.

When hoary time shall pass away, and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall;
When men who here refuse to pray, on rocks and hills and mountains call;
God's love, so sure, shall still endure, all measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam's race - The saints' and angels' song.

Could we with ink the oceans fill, and were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, tho' stretched from sky to sky.

Frederick M. Lehman

Honesty

"If the writing is honest it cannot be separated from the man who wrote it."
--Unknown

"I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man."
--George Washington

"Honesty pays, but it doesn't seem to pay enough to suit some people."
--F.M. Hubbard

"I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use. Right up front, tell people what you're trying to accomplish and what you're willing to sacrifice to accomplish it."
--Lee Iacocca

"He who is passionate and hasty, is generally honest; it is your cool dissembling hypocrite, of whom you should beware."

"I keep six honest serving men: They taught me all I knew. Their names are WHAT and WHY and WHEN and HOW and WHERE and WHO."
--Rudyard Kipling

"The man who cannot endure to have his errors and shortcomings brought to the surface and made known, but tries to hide them, is unfit to walk the highway of truth."
--James Allen

"The greatest truth is honesty, and the greatest falsehood is dishonesty."
--Abu Bakr

Deceit

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave,
when first we practice to deceive."

Sir Walter Scott in Marmion

"Lying covers a multitude of sins -- temporarily"

D.L. Moody

"A lie is a snowball: the further you roll it, the bigger it becomes."

Martin Luther

"A half truth is a whole lie."

Yiddish Proverb

"Those who think it is permissable to tell white lies soon grow color-blind."

Austin O'Malley

"The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted."

George Christoph Lichtenberg

"When you stretch the truth, watch out for a snapback."

Bill Copeland

"Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half."

Author Unknown

"The cruelest lies are often told in silence."

Adlai Stevenson

"It takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen."

Homer Simpson, The Simpsons

Off White

We're doing some remodeling in our home so we've been thinking about colors to spark things up a bit; the interior of our home was entirely white when we bought it. Well, not actually white, it's an off-white called Swiss Coffee. At the paint store you can find a special "white" color pallette with hundreds of shades of white. Each color sample standing alone looks "white". The true shade stands out only when placed next to a color sample that is "pure white".

This spoke to my heart. "Pure white", spiritually speaking, is God's written Word, the Bible and the "Word made Flesh" Jesus Christ - God the Son. Our thinking and the pattern of our lives may not be black, but neither are they "pure white". That's why it is so vital that we keep ourselves in the Word of God. Then the flaws in our thinking and manner of living will show up for what they are, "off white".

Some people look at the Bible and Jesus and "re-invent" both to reflect their own "off white" thinking. Others find objective truth statements through sound exegesis and the application of time honored principles of interpretation. These get a glimpse of "pure white" and with the enablement provided by God's grace make the necessary adjustments in their thinking and manner of life.

Sincerity is not Enough

Sincerity is no substitute for truth. One can be sincerely wrong. I stopped for gas on the freeway that runs through the flat and somewhat boring Iowa countryside. It was one of the places where you exit then cross over the freeway and then make a left turn into the gas station. Upon filling up I proceeded on my way to Denver. After about 10 miles a sign shocked me into the realization that I was going in the wrong direction. I didn't have a compass, and it "felt" like I was going West when I was actually going East.

In spiritual matters, feeling and sincerity, without the compass of God's Word, can send us in the wrong direction. Not the "subjective" use of God's Word, ie., "what do you feel that means to you", but the objective truth statements derived from sound exegesis and the application of time honored principles of interpretation.

"Thus saith the Lord", like the signpost, can turn you around in a heartbeat, unless you want to argue with what is written and would rather go with your feelings.

How to Change a Lamb into a Pig and Vice-versa.

How to change a lamb into a pig.
The lamb gives a little lamb and takes a little pig. Give a little,take a little; give a little, take a little, etc, etc, etc, etc. Soon the little lamb can no longer say bah, bah, bah. All he can say is oink, oink, oink.

How to change a pig into a lamb.
The little pig needs to get born again, into a Lamb's family. "Therefore, if anyone is in (The Lamb), he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come."