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Divine Imperatives September 16 Devotional

by David Joynt on September 16, 2023


MATTHEW 5:37c |  37c anything more than this comes from the evil one.

 

JOHN 8:44 | 44 You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

 

This last phrase reminds us that our speech always has a spiritual component. The evil one is the “father of lies.” Lies destroy community, divide people, erode trust, and sow confusion. The evil one aims to hurt relationships of every kind. When we are honest, we build community, connect people, create trust, and enhance truth. Further, by establishing a reputation for probity, we enhance our opportunities for witness—we become believable witnesses.

 

Have you seen lies sow confusion or divide people?

 

 

Gracious God,

We want to be believable, credible witnesses. So help us seek honesty in our daily speech, resisting the tendency to exaggerate or deceive.

Amen.

 

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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