SCRIP-BITS

Proverbs 24:28.    Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.
 
Oh Friends, the hot times they continue! It’s supposed to be up to something like 35 today in my area, but with showers though. Hn! Showers eh! I’ll believe them when I see them. And talking about showers, yesterday I left out the length of time that the few scattered showers fell in my area. It was less than ten minutes. However, it seems that the City of Toronto itself, as well as its eastern environs had oodles of rain in a very short time period. So much that it caused power outages and flooding in several areas, and some people even got injured by lightning strikes. Let’s pray that they are okay. So while I was belly-aching about the little rain in my area on the western side of Toronto, those folks in the centre and on the other side were complaining about too much all at once. Anyway, here’s something, or rather someone, whom we can all be thankful for. It’s from the chorus of a Caribbean Gospel song I heard on Wack 90.1 FM yesterday morning, during their Gospel Time, between 4 and 6 a.m. Monday to Friday. If you LOVE West Indian Gospel, and to me it’s the BEST – so what if I’m biased about many things West Indian eh – (smile) then tune into Wack 90.1 on your computers in the early morning hours. I guarantee that you will get a wonderful treat of beautiful West Indian Gospel. And the chorus of the song I’m talking about says: ‘Thank God for Jesus! Thank God for Jesus! Thank God for Jesus – Everyday! Thank God for Jesus! He is my Saviour! He is the Truth! He is the Light! He is the Way!’ And all God’s people raised a loud shout of ‘Hallelujah! Amen!’ to heaven. Those are truly words of wisdom and truth mih breddren! And it segues in quite nicely to our Bit: ‘Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.’ Yes Friends, as followers of Jesus, the truth should be on our lips, emanate from our mouths at all times. And not only should it come out of our mouths, but also from our hearts. In fact, if there isn’t truth in our hearts, then how will it come from our lips eh? Remember Jesus’ words to the multitude re things that defile: ‘Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.’ (Matt.15:10-11) So my brethren, let’s work faithfully and diligently at getting truth rather than lies and evil into our souls and minds nuh, because only if we first put it in, can we later get it to come out. Then we have these fateful words of Bruh Paul to the Ephesians, re the new life in Christ: ‘But ye have not so learned Christ. If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation (conduct) the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts; And be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.’ (Eph.4:21-25) Ah mih people, if we’re truly born again in Christ, then truth should be the only thing that comes out of us, because that’s what Christ is all about! Now listen to the Lord thy God, from way back when, speaking through the prophet Zechariah, re things that must be done when the promised restoration of Jerusalem occurs. ‘For thus saith the Lord of hosts; As I thought (determined) to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath…and I repented not (would not relent): So again have I thought (determined) in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not. These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgements of (for) truth and peace in your gates. And let none of you imagine (think) evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and LOVE no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.’ (Zech.8:14-17) Yes Friends, it’s all there, plain and simple in black and white. And by the way, that’s where Bruh Paul got his words to the Ephesians from, re speaking truth to one’s neighbour. So it’s obvious that things like outright lies, false accusations, slander and blasphemy should not be numbered amongst the traits of a true believer. And the Lord knows that it’s difficult to always stay on the straight and narrow path when such a conglomeration of evil and ungodliness surrounds us, where lies, gossip, half-truths and other erroneous messages proliferate, and can easily lead us astray. But as with everything else in our Christian walk my people, we need to make a conscious and diligent effort to remove the ungodly things from our lives, obviously with the help of the Lord. If we come to Him with transparent hearts and lay all our cards before Him, He will enable us to bear our burdens and resist the evil that’s tempting us. Oh Friends that’s the wise and ONLY way we’ll ever be able to resist and/or avoid some of the many problems that will surely invade our earthly lives! So till we meet again tomorrow, God willing, please go in Peace, Harmony and LOVE, to serve and bless our great and wonderful God! Much LOVE!…when problems bring us to our knees…run to the Lord…and with a sincere heart say…Father, help me please…