Thursday

Be True To Yourself

If you’ve used the Internet for a long time, surely you will have received several pieces of ‘Spam’ mail where you are being invited to become the beneficiary of a huge financial estate. And in exchange for your participation you’ve been promised a percentage of the proceeds. All you have to do is say that you are either the relative or rightful beneficiary of the estate.

Of course, there’s nothing there. It’s all a sham. And you will be severely out of pocket, having had paid numerous storage fees, processing fees, etc. Some end up paying much higher costs–with their lives.

There’s something unique about these frauds. The only way you can participate is by surrendering your own values and becoming just like them–a thief. This is why when so many people get scammed out of their money, they don’t report it, because to do so is to announce that not only are they inherently stupid, but their morals and ethics are no different than the criminals they’ve joined forces with.

And it is in this darkest moment that you realise that through compromising your values, you have failed yourself. To be a person of honour, you must first be true to yourself.

This is the same advice that Jesus has given us, not by His words, but by His deeds and how He lived His life. Up until His final hours, Jesus could have saved His life and lived a long, comfortable life just by ‘adapting the truth a little.’ He could have saved His life and gone home to His mother, found a wife, and been a wonderful father. But He would have lost His soul. He knew that the deal sounded good, but that it was a bad bargain.

On Ash Wednesday, we marked our foreheads with ashes in the sign of a cross. It signified an acknowledgement of our own sinfulness and our journey to salvation. That mark will serve as a lifetime of integrity, if we let it.

Living each day truthfully: not just telling the truth, but being true, is the only way of living that will grow into eternity!

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Our Father, help us to overcome our weaknesses and sins. Give us confidence in Your love, that we may always follow You. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

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