Although We May Find It Intolerable When Others Are Dishonest, What About Our Dishonesty?
1 John 1: 8 But if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
I recently went to a library when we were out of town to try to update my out of date GPS. The librarian was very supportive, but I couldn't get it to work, because I needed a certain type of cord. I went and bought the needed cord and went back to the library, but I still couldn't update the maps on my GPS. I needed to download a particular program in order to do so.
I knew I shouldn't have done it on a library computer, but by that time I wanted to complete this task so much that I let it overpower my better judgment, as I pushed the Install Now key. Fortunately for the library, they had blocked customers from downloading and installing programs on their computers and I was unable to update the maps on my GPS. I thanked the librarian for her help and she asked me several questions in hopes to help me remedy the issue. I told her that it wanted me to download a program in order to make the update, but I hemmed and hawed around implying that I hadn't done it, but I really had.
It bothered me right after I had done it. It reminds me of the days when I used to eat over every time I did something wrong in the eyes of God and ate and ate and ate when I turned in the coupon for a different brand of pineapple, sticking it in the middle of my other coupons. Sure, the grocery store person and the librarian didn't know what I had done, but God did and so did I. I prayed and prayed about this and tried to go back to the library the next day but it was closed. Several weeks later, I was in the same location and asked my husband to drive me by the library before we left, so I could apologize to the librarian. I'm so blessed to have such a supportive husband! I apologized to the librarian and told her that I had tried to download the program, although I knew I should do it. She was very gracious about it and I'm so glad that I was finally honest and admitted what I had done. It's kind of scary when you think about how Satan can tempt Christians in ways that seem minor, but can work a wedge in our relationship with Christ. Fortunately, Christ gives us instincts about things, and when we listen to those instincts on our hearts, we are better off.
