Tag Archives: honesty

Betrayal always carries bad consequences (John 13:12-20), March 22, 2017

Today’s Podcast

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Have you ever been the victim of betrayal? Have you ever betrayed someone? There are always consequences, you know.
Scripture
1. John 13:12-20
2. Jesus: Do you understand what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and truly, that is who I am. So if your Lord and Teacher washes your feet, then you should wash one another’s feet. I am your example; keep doing what I do. I tell you the truth: a servant is not greater than the master. Those who are sent are not greater than the one who sends them. If you know these things, and if you put them into practice, you will find happiness. I am not speaking about all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but let the Hebrew Scripture be fulfilled that says, “The very same man who eats My bread with Me will stab Me in the back.” Assuredly, I tell you these truths before they happen so that when it all transpires, you will believe that I am. I tell you the truth: anyone who accepts the ones I send accepts Me. In turn, the ones who accept Me also accept the One who sent Me.
Devotional
1. It’s been a lot of years and I won’t mention any names, but a fellow officer in one of the units to which I was assigned was a good friend…I thought.
  1. We often ate lunch together.
  2. We shared techniques in leading our units that worked and those that didn’t work so well so we helped each other.
  3. Families spent time together after work during our leisure hours.
  4. Thought we were good friends
2. One day things changed
  1. Had an inspection and some things were missing from his unit
  2. Accountable, but consumable
  3. Used up in training, but had to account for their use and replace because of alert status
  4. His soldiers got lazy and didn’t do the proper paperwork to account for the consumables after one training event and so there was a shortage
  5. I was accused of stealing
  6. Took less than an hour to show the paper trail to prove no one in my unit took any of his consumables. All mine were accounted for and a trail for when and where each came from
3. Pain came from the betrayal
  1. We were friends
  2. He knew my character
  3. He knew I wouldn’t tolerate such behavior from anyone under my authority
  4. Still he accused me to try to cover his soldiers’ failure
  5. “The one who ate bread with me, stabbed me in the back.”
  6. My friend left the service very soon after that event
4. Nothing of what Jesus felt
  1. Judas sat as His feet continually
  2. Listened to His teaching
  3. Said he believed what the Master taught
  4. Said he believed Jesus to be the Son of God
  5. Would soon betray Him to the high priest and the Sanhedrin
  6. He would die because Judas decided to betray his friend
5. You just don’t know the consequences that will come as a result of betrayal
  1. My friend ended his career
  2. Judas hung himself
  3. Jesus died on a cross
  4. Be careful of betraying your friends
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Are you a truth-teller? (John 1:47-51), January 18, 2017

Today’s Podcast

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2017-01-18-devotional-

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Do people know you as a truth-teller? How can they tell? And do you know who is looking? Is it just your boss? Your family? Your pastor? Who might be looking that you don’t know about?
Scripture
1. John 1:47-51
2. Jesus: Look closely, and you will see an Israelite who is a truth-teller.

Nathanael (overhearing Jesus): How would You know this about me? We have never met.

Jesus: I have been watching you before Philip invited you here. Earlier in the day, you were enjoying the shade and fruit of the fig tree. I saw you then.

Nathanael: Teacher, You are the One—God’s own Son and Israel’s King.

Jesus: Nathanael, if all it takes for you to believe is My telling you I saw you under the fig tree, then what you will see later will astound you. I tell you the truth: before our journey is complete, you will see the heavens standing open while heavenly messengers ascend and descend, swirling around the Son of Man.

Devotional
1. Do people know you as a truth teller?
  1. Jesus saw Nathanael from a distance and told those around Him that he was a truth-teller.
  2. Announcement sounded like truth-tellers were rare.
  3. Something about Nathanael made him different than others around him.
  4. Can you tell the difference when you see truthers versus liars? Can they see the difference in you?
2. Jesus saw Nathanael under the fig tree enjoying its shade and eating its fruit.
  1. Truthers enjoy the simple things in life
  2. Recognize the beauty of creation in and of itself
  3. Find pleasure outside the norms of society, within the norms of nature
3. Watched him interact with others while sitting under the tree
  1. Shade at a premium so a gathering place for discussion
  2. Others seek out people who speak the truth in love
    1. When they need real answers to problems
    2. When they need help
    3. When they want to know God
  3. Others avoid those who are not truth-tellers
    1. Flat out liars
    2. Half truths
    3. Truths that only help themselves and not the asker
    4. Speak truth, but in condemnation and judgment
  4. Expect Nathanael provided truth from scripture, experience, wisdom freely but with love
1. If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

Try a little integrity (Luke 20:9-17) December 26, 2016

Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Deuteronomy 29-31

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 20:9-17
Jesus: A man planted a vineyard. He rented it to tenants and went for a long trip to another country. At the harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants so he could be paid his share of the vineyard’s fruit, but the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed. The man sent another servant, and they beat him and treated him disgracefully and sent him away empty-handed too. He sent a third servant who was injured and thrown out. Then the vineyard owner said, “Now what am I going to do? I’ll send my much-loved son. They should treat him with respect.”
But when the tenants recognized the owner’s son, they said, “Here’s our chance to actually own this vineyard! Let’s kill the owner’s heir so we can claim this place as our own!” So they threw him out of the vineyard and murdered him. What do you think the owner will do to these scoundrels?
I’ll tell you what he’ll do; he’ll come and wipe those tenants out, and he’ll give the vineyard to others.
Crowd: No! God forbid that this should happen!
Jesus: Why then do the Hebrew Scriptures contain these words:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very stone
that holds together the entire foundation?

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

When I read these words today, my immediate thoughts took me back a few years to the many riots around the world in which hundreds of people took to the streets in protest of what they felt were injustices by governments, organizations, or individuals and just destroyed neighborhoods. You probably remember the pictures on the news. Cars turned over and burning. Windows in stores smashed. Looters carrying televisions and stereos out of those stores at will. Police standing in lines with shields to protect themselves from rocks and bricks tossed by the rioters.

The violence within the protests was incredible in many of those events. I even remember it happening on occasion when sports teams won pennants or Super Bowls or championships. How crazy do people have to get to thick it’s okay to destroy someone else’s property? When is that ever okay? When is it ever okay to just take what someone else has worked for and paid for? When is it ever okay to steal?

Just last week in my community we had a report in our neighborhood website to be on the lookout for a fairly non-descript white pickup roaming around the area. I live in a gated community, but like I’ve seen many do from time to time, the truck apparently tailgated a resident through the gate to gain entrance. Then the driver scoped out the area and just started loading up the outside Christmas decorations into his truck until his truck was full and left.

Somehow the tenants in the field in Jesus story and the looters and rioters and the many thieves we deal with today have twisted their minds into thinking everything belongs to everyone and so it’s okay to just take what they want. So what if what they take is something precious to the person who owns it? So what if they destroy property to get it? So what if they injure or kill in the process of getting the items they covet? They want it and they will have it regardless the cost.

I like the way my late father-in-law raised his kids. Many times they would go to the store with him when they were growing up. He would sometimes wait until he was out of the store or in his car before he checked to see if he got the right change. Of course, back in those days, the cash registers didn’t tell you how much change you were getting, you figured it out. You had to actually do addition and subtraction. But if he got even two cents too much change, he would go back to the cashier and return the money with the explanation to his girls that he would rather spend the extra time to give the money back than spend eternity in hell. He was not going to steal from the store.

His integrity in the small things bled over into the big things of life also. He was an incredible man of integrity and he passed that trait on to his children. Honesty is probably the most important characteristic each of them looked for in a spouse as they were beginning to date. I suppose I met the test with my wife of 40 years.

We don’t see that kind of integrity much anymore. Our political leaders certainly don’t show it and demonstrated by their recent campaigning. Our bosses often don’t show it in the way they operate their businesses with the bottom line being the most important thing about the business. Even close friends often lose that spot because they just fail to be honest with us in some of the important issues of life. But honesty and integrity are critical to God. It’s one of those commandments He told us not to break, remember? Stealing. Lying. Murder. Coveting. Adultery. They all rank right up there and they all start with the thought, “I want what I want and I don’t care about anyone else.” Don’t be like those tenants. Try a little integrity.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.