Text For Friday, 04 May 2007

[barry]

Keep your senses completely.—1 Pet. 1:13.

When Abraham offered Lot the first choice of the land, Lot’s eyes were drawn to a well-watered region that was “like the garden of Jehovah.” It must have seemed to be the perfect place to settle his family, since “Lot chose for himself the whole District of the Jordan” and set up camp near Sodom. However, outward appearances were deceptive, for nearby lived “the men of Sodom [who] were bad and were gross sinners against Jehovah.” (Gen. 13:7-13) As events unfolded, Lot and his family suffered terrible losses. Eventually, he and his daughters were reduced to living in a cave. (Gen. 19:17, 23-26, 30) What had looked so good to him at the outset turned out to be just the opposite. Therefore, when we face decisions, we must be alert to possible dangers and guard against being deceived by first impressions. w 3/1/06 1, 2a

[eyes&ears]

When I was a little girl there was an expression that I would hear the adults use when they were having their "adult" discussions and chased us kids away to another part of the house or outside.

It was "Believe half of what you hear and none of what you see"

I also would hear the women "folk" in speaking about men "folk" say don't believe that man child, he talks too much, he knows too much, been every where, knows everything. A person that talks too much and knows too much and brags about what they have usually don't have all they say they have.

It's funny how that came to my mind today after reading the text.

Throughout my years I never forgot that. I would be accused of ANALYZING everything and everybody. My nickname was EYES, in my year book it said "THE EYES HAVE IT" (LAUGHING)

UNFORTUNATELY, I LET MY GUARD DOWN IN MY SPIRITUAL LIFE AND DID NOT APPLY THAT AS MUCH UNTIL IT WAS ALMOST TOO LATE.

So what is my rambling point this morning :185:

NEVER ACCEPT APPEARANCES. DIG WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY BENEATH THE SURFACE AND THEN SOME.

I think we all have seen the results of so called well dressed, well groomed corporate folks in our everyday life, and we also have seen and felt the effects of WOLVES IN SHEEPS CLOTHING IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

THE COMEDIAN WAS WRONG. WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT WHAT YOU GIT "NOT"

I say, what you see may not be what you see at all, but what you want to see, or what others want you to believe you see.


Years and years ago, when I went to church (MY MOM WOULD MAKE ME GO TO CHURCH, MY OTHER RELATIVES WOULD TAKE ME TO THE KH WHEN I SPENT THE HOLIDAYS WITH THEM OVER THE SUMMER) , a preacher was giving a sermon about deception as I can recall. He was speaking about courting and marriage.

He said you better spend time and make sure of what you are getting because people show you what they want you to believe they are, not what they really are. He said even then you don't really know a person until you live with them (marry them) And then the mask comes off. You know preachers are dramatic right? When he said that he gestured of ripping a mask off his face and made a very ugly face. He was smiling and then he made a ugly face, but the audience got the point. I never forgot that either.

Even now when I spend time with people if their actions do not match up with their behavior, I keep my EYES on them and remember some of what I learned in my OLE PSYCH COURSES when dealing with complicated humans and our personalities/behavior, and all of what I have gathered from my life experiences. I'm glad I took those PSYCH courses, they sure do come in handy now (laughing).


WEll I will leave with the other old worldy saying. "You can fool some of the people some of the time etc. etc." ..................................................

The scriptural counsel today is excellent KEEP YOUR SENSES COMPLETELY.

We are living in DANGEROUS, DECEPTIVE AND DISORDERLY TIMES (CRITICAL)

DECEPTION IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIVES CAN HAVE DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES. I PRAY WE CONTINUE TO MAKE SURE OF ALL THINGS.

STAY ON THE WATCH AND PRAY LIKE NEVER BEFORE OKEY DOKEY.

Sisterly love to my family and vistors

E & E

[Candace]

I enjoyed reading your comments E&E, well said. When I first came into contact with JW's I was so impressed with their honesty and integrity. And for the first few years after baptism I really did not run into any situations where I was personally affected by deceit within the congregation. That all changed in the early 1990's and has steadily gone downhill since then.

Keeping your senses completely nowadays means being alert to the dangers inside and outside of the congregation. I think we are WAY more susceptible to the dangers inside the congregation because we have been trained to trust our brothers and sisters. In my own situation, that trust has been violated so many times I have lost count. When you get burned by one person after another, you tend to lose confidence. This site has helped me regain my confidence, knowing that Jehovah is going to act soon on behalf of the lowly one.

[eyes&ears]

Candace your words are so true

" This site has helped me regain my confidence, knowing that Jehovah is going to act soon on behalf of the lowly one. "

Likewise for me also. See we were not way off to the left like we thought :ban_dance01: Thank goodness we all held on to Jehovah real tight, and thank goodness we all found this site. I know it has had to help others as well.

OKEY DOKEY OVER AND OUT

E & E