Happy Wednesday! It’s January 8, 2025. Today, we’re learning from another “Holy Ghost Case Study,” this time focusing on Abraham in Genesis 20. Ever feel a bit threatened, so you use “half-truths”? When you should have been totally transparent, you shaded just a portion of the truth. When confronted, you quickly conjure up an alibi to save face. Or perhaps you shift the blame by saying, “I sent them an email, but they haven’t responded yet.”
Half-truths are still untruths. They erode relationships, diminish trust, and reduce how much others can depend on you. Do that enough, and you cut your capacity in half! That’s what half-truths do. Read on …
Today's Reading:
Genesis 20-22; Luke 8
Scripture
“Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” (Genesis 20:9)
Observation
Abimelech is angry with Abraham for his half-truth, demanding that this kind of thing “should never be done!” Yet, as Christians, we often fall into the same trap. We try to save face, avoid pushback, correction, or the need to apologize for our own sloth or oversight. So, we offer a half-truth, thinking it will have no repercussions.
But half-truths only multiply problems. They shift the burden onto others, making them appear slothful or negligent as well.
Application
In wartime, we often hear the phrase, “Shoot to kill.” But in Satan’s realm, it’s “Shoot to wound.” Why? When a soldier is killed, you lose one. However, when a soldier is wounded, you take out three—one wounded and two to carry the stretcher.
Half-truths wound family members, staff, fellow Christians, and others, spreading blame and entangling them in the fallout of my oversight. Even if the effects are unseen at first, the consequences are already in motion, though invisible. Verse 17 tells us that God had stopped up the wombs of the women in Abimelech’s village. If left unchecked, it would have led to the slow extinction of that tribe.
Owning up and fessing up takes courage and holiness. Half-truths are often detected, but to avoid conflict, they may be left unchallenged. Yet the consequences have already begun.
Stop all half-truths!
Prayer
Please start with me, O Holy Spirit. Help me to catch myself at the very tendency to offer a half-truth. Give me great courage to own my own stuff, and if I am slothful or in error, give me the confident joy of humility that will make personal corrections resulting in growth and fruit.
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