Thanks for joining us on this journey of building a consistent habit of reading our Bibles every day. The Bible reading plan we are using this year can be found here: One Year Bible or here on the Bible app. As always, if you miss a day, don’t feel compelled to go back and catch up. Just skip it and start back on today’s date. I am reading the NLT this year, but feel free to use whatever version you prefer. Now here are some thoughts from today’s readings:
People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will be exposed.
– Proverbs 10:9
Proverbs teaches us an important lesson that the rest of the Bible confirms. If you follow “crooked paths” or, as another version puts it, if you pervert your ways, you will be exposed. Nothing hidden stays that way. It may, for a season, feel like you’re getting away with it, but you will eventually be found out.
Ephesians 5:13 also tells us that all things will be exposed. The truth is, though, that we all have issues we’d like to keep hidden. So, what do we do about them knowing that they will be exposed? Control when it is exposed and who it is exposed to! If you wait for an issue in your life to blow up and become public, you have no control over how it comes or who it hurts. But if you will follow the Biblical examples of accountability and share your deep, dark secrets with a fellow believer you can trust. Ask them to help you overcome your struggles.
If you’ll decide today to let someone in, you’ll find, as many have before you, that it’s actually healthy for us to talk about our struggles, James tells us that if we’ll confess our sins one to another, we will be healed! That doesn’t mean you have to tell everyone, but you should talk to someone about your struggles. If not, they will eventually come to light in a way you won’t enjoy. So, the choice is yours. Tell your someone about your “crooked paths” (and we all have them) or wait for them to blow up on you. I know which one I am going to choose.
Who do you have in your life that you can trust with the dark areas of your heart?