July 2, 2022 — Words of Wisdom, Ernest Hemingway

“Do not lie to one another…”  

“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.” Ernest Hemingway

^“Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient.These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life.But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth.Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practicesand have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!” Colossians 3:5-11

“Do not lie to one another…”  

We are not to lie to one another, to deceive each other – instead we are to speak the truth in all our dealings – and to share our feelings with the honesty of a cat. And that, my friends, is very hard. It is so easy to find contempt for the things we have including our relationships. Learning not to “undervalue” the gifts of our neighbors, of our lives, of our creativity is also hard. Part of appreciating what we have means we should learn to speak the truth – as long as that truth will not destroy or damage.

If we remember Martin Luther’s explanation of the 8^th commandment, “Thou shall not bear false witness against our neighbor”, he writes: “We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.”

Cats continue to be good models of true honesty. My cats let me know, every day, where I stand – there is no deceit in them. Let us look to the cats in our lives to see what it means to be honest in all things. They are equal in their love, and in their disapproval. But in all things, they are honest.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, you call us to be honest in all things. That is hard, Lord. Give me the courage to speak the truth, and the wisdom to know when to speak. Amen.

Pastor Dave