July 11th – Proverbs 11: Guided by Integrity, Destroyed by Duplicity

“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.” – Proverbs 11:3

The unfaithful are like chameleons. They can change for whoever is in the room. If they disagree with you, they will never tell you to your face. They are much too cowardly for that. They will wait until they gather together with those who are as compromised as they are and when they are sure that their illegitimate support group is behind them, they will say what they really think. Funny thing though, they never tell the right person, which is the person they have the problem/disagreement with. The worst thing about the unfaithful and their total inability to be honest is that they are dishonest under the pretense of “helping” the person they slander against. They say nice things like, “I don’t think so and so could handle this, that’s why I am telling you… here, let’s pray!”

Righteous people are righteous all the time. People who possess the truth don’t need a chorus of voices that agree with theirs. They regularly stand alone, guided by their integrity. You see, integrity demands that we walk a certain way, ALL of the time, no matter who is in the room. The unfaithful shrink back from telling and walking in the truth, guided by their fear of facing men! The righteous are guided by their fear of the face of God! Who you fear determines the quality of Christian you are!

“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” – Proverbs 29:25

The snare the fear of man talks about here is the same one that our Proverb for today is talking about: the snare of duplicity. The word duplicity here comes from a Hebrew word that means: to wrench, subvert, overthrow, pervert & distort. And that’s exactly what the unfaithful do, they distort the truth to make it fit their personal convictions. They distort their true feelings, telling everyone what they want to hear until their lies catch up with them. In an environment full of committed people, the unfaithful AMEN a call to commitment and sacrifice for the Gospel. Yet in another environment full of backsliders, they question the “wisdom” of such calls and side with the weak and fearful. The weak and fearful just need encouragement; they are weak and fearful ALL of the time! But the unfaithful man needs a kick in the tail and a sharp rebuke for his lifestyle of deceit.

LIFE LESSON:

We need to drop ALL pretense and just BE righteous.