Bible Reading: Proverbs 12
Key Verse: Verse 5 – “The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit."
Key Words: the counsels of the wicked are deceit
Recently two slick “con” men boarded a train that runs between New York and Boston and singled out a prosperous looking individual as their “patsy.” Sitting down next to him, they invited him to play a game of cards. Soon the unsuspecting victim was several hundred dollars in the red. The winner agreed to take a check, but once he had it in his hands, he acted conscience-stricken and tore it up. “I never thought you’d lose so much money. Let’s call the whole thing off,” he said. Impressed with their apparent generosity, the loser insisted on writing out a new one. Later, when his vouchers came back from the bank, he found that not only the second but also the first check had been cashed! The crook had quickly slipped the first one into his pocket and had torn up a blank one instead. The loser was hooked twice.
We despise that kind of deception even though gambling is wrong in the first place. But do we fail to recognize in our own lives the same tendency to deceive? Have we fawned over others, inflating their egos to gain personal favor, or winked at wrongdoing to advance up the ladder of success? We may try to assure ourselves that we do these things “to win friends” or to be “diplomatic,” when actually we are motivated by self-interest, not kindness. Yet because our hearts are evil, we constantly seek to justify ourselves (Jeremiah 17:9).
Beware of deceitfulness. It originates with the devil, the “father” of lies (John 8:44), and is one of the seven things God hates (Proverbs 6:16-19).
What to do:
✞ Always remember the words of Walter Scott, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”
✞ Again remember, your sin will find you out.
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