Open Living
By Dave Gable
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"You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless
we
were among you who believed" (1 Thessalonians 2:10 , NIV).
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"Where were you on (a certain day)?" came the question from Mike,
one of our
board members. I checked my calendar, and told him. End of discussion.
Only later did the story come out. Mike had overheard a very damaging
report
about me. "Pastor wouldn't do that; don't say a word until I check
this
out," was his response. He came to me, and by my calendar, also
available to
the church secretary, sure enough, I couldn't have done whatever
it was.
He ordered the rumormonger, "Now tell the truth to every one you
told the
lie." His action, and my openness, saved the situation. (Whew!)
It prevented
a problem I didn't even know I had.
The open life has great power.
We know and are known. Transparency becomes protection. Integrity
then isn't
a matter of guessing and hoping. Blessed sunshine prevails in the
church.
ACTION STEP: Are you covering a part of your life that should be
legitimately and readily available to the people in your world?
What changes
will it take before you can say what Paul said? Are you ready to
start
working on them?
hbdevotion@news.ag.org