Day 140: “Defrauding Yourself, Defrauding Your Neighbor, Defrauding God!"
Read: Malachi 3:6 - 18 (Amplified)
Today, we have moved one day forward toward the beginning of Lent.
Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, its traditional beginning. Yesterday's effort
asked you to focus on the goodness of YOUR 'religion'. For today, I am asking you to consider the implications of this verse (8): 8 'Will man rob (defraud) God? Yet you are robbing
(defrauding) me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed (defrauded) you?’ (You
have withheld) your tithes and contributions.' Now please focus in on
and carefully Consider that word 'defraud'. When used as verb it means to Illegally obtain money from (someone) by deception. Please Consider synonyms (like minded phrases) for this word includes: cheat - swindle - deceive - embezzle.
These are extremely serious legal accusations that God is leveling against His people. Then, these sort of charges leveled against anyone could result in a serious
case of death. Today, depending on the level of the deception - we are
staring at a seriously long time of incarceration. When we think of
“stealing” we usually picture a Bernie Madow or any perpetrator of a 'Ponzi Scheme' - a nice guy on the surface but underneath an unscrupulous and greedy individual taking grotesque advantage of law
abiding folks the result of which is the utter ruination of lives and
little hope of getting their money returned. These 'frauds' know full
well what they are doing is making conscious choices and cheating other people.
'Will a man
rob or defraud God? Yet you rob and defraud Me. But you say, In what way
do we rob or defraud You?' (v8) Yes, we say "In what way do we defraud
You?" Consider this: there is another realm to stealing besides the
hardened criminal, it is the many ways we find each day in our common
lives to defraud; perhaps things as cheating someone out of an act of
compassion, an act of mercy, simple, timely words of forgiveness,
taking away someone’s good name with gossip, deciding that those pencils
the company bought belong at your house instead of the office, and even
the failure to give to God His tithes and offerings! This is not just about our money
but our sacrificial gifts of love too.
Cheating yourself, cheating your
neighbor, cheating God, destroys relationships that are built on trust,
and it destroys self respect when one receives by theft that which does
not belong to them. Stealing destroys character as it breeds corruption.
Theft can compromise our relationship with one another and with God, in
this way it hurts the soul and society. Do you think it does not matter
in the end when you withhold a kind word from someone? I do not know
for sure, it is just a random thought, but it is
my guess that a few random "thank you's" freely offered, freely given just may make someone's day go better. So, friend, where are you defrauding yourself, defrauding your neighbor or defrauding God?
Let Us Pray: Lord God, the time draws ever nearer, and indeed is very
close at hand when we will be called to place our hearts, our minds, our
spirits before Your altar:
"O Lord, The house of my soul is
narrow; enlarge it that you may enter in. It is ruinous, O repair it! It
displeases Your sight. I confess it, I know. But who shall cleanse it,
to whom shall I cry but to you? Cleanse me from my secret faults, O
Lord, and spare Your servant from strange sins." Saint Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430)
http://www.youtube.com/
Read: Malachi 3:6 - 18 (Amplified)
Today, we have moved one day forward toward the beginning of Lent. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, its traditional beginning. Yesterday's effort asked you to focus on the goodness of YOUR 'religion'. For today, I am asking you to consider the implications of this verse (8): 8 'Will man rob (defraud) God? Yet you are robbing (defrauding) me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed (defrauded) you?’ (You have withheld) your tithes and contributions.' Now please focus in on and carefully Consider that word 'defraud'. When used as verb it means to Illegally obtain money from (someone) by deception. Please Consider synonyms (like minded phrases) for this word includes: cheat - swindle - deceive - embezzle.
'Will a man rob or defraud God? Yet you rob and defraud Me. But you say, In what way do we rob or defraud You?' (v8) Yes, we say "In what way do we defraud You?" Consider this: there is another realm to stealing besides the hardened criminal, it is the many ways we find each day in our common lives to defraud; perhaps things as cheating someone out of an act of compassion, an act of mercy, simple, timely words of forgiveness, taking away someone’s good name with gossip, deciding that those pencils the company bought belong at your house instead of the office, and even the failure to give to God His tithes and offerings! This is not just about our money but our sacrificial gifts of love too.
Cheating yourself, cheating your neighbor, cheating God, destroys relationships that are built on trust, and it destroys self respect when one receives by theft that which does not belong to them. Stealing destroys character as it breeds corruption. Theft can compromise our relationship with one another and with God, in this way it hurts the soul and society. Do you think it does not matter in the end when you withhold a kind word from someone? I do not know for sure, it is just a random thought, but it is
my guess that a few random "thank you's" freely offered, freely given just may make someone's day go better. So, friend, where are you defrauding yourself, defrauding your neighbor or defrauding God?
Let Us Pray: Lord God, the time draws ever nearer, and indeed is very close at hand when we will be called to place our hearts, our minds, our spirits before Your altar:
"O Lord, The house of my soul is narrow; enlarge it that you may enter in. It is ruinous, O repair it! It displeases Your sight. I confess it, I know. But who shall cleanse it, to whom shall I cry but to you? Cleanse me from my secret faults, O Lord, and spare Your servant from strange sins." Saint Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430)
http://www.youtube.com/
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