Australian Marcus Einfeld was a lawyer, former federal judge, prominent Jewish community leader, and was once decorated as a national living treasure for his work. But in 2006, he was given a $77 ticket for speeding. Rather than pay the fine, he began a series of 4 different detailed schemes to “prove” he was not driving the car that day. His original defense (that he had loaned the car to a friend who had since conveniently passed away) was accepted by the judge, but dogged reporting by Sydney's Daily Telegraph revealed that lie, plus subsequent elaborate lies to cover each successive explanation. Curious why he would be so quick to lie, reporters began deviling into his past and found even greater lies. (His college degree was bogus and he had been cheating the government by double billing charges.) By 2009, he was sentenced to prison and his life sat in ruin, all because of one speeding ticket. In reality, it was the all the lies that he assumed he had “gotten away” with that destroyed him. We never “get away” with sin. Someone will always pay the price. As The LORD warned Israel in Numbers 32:23, “be sure, your sin will find you out.” Don’t make the mistake this man did of adding sin onto sin, because it will always fall down and crush you in the process.
I always hated buying gifts for my Mom. If I got her something like a new set of pans, it was like saying “Here’s something you can use to go make me something to eat”. A gift for her was seemingly a gift for me. There are however gifts you give that benefit you more than the receiver. For example, forgiveness. When you give it, you are giving it to yourself as much as you are giving it to them. Jesus said that when we forgive others it means God is forgiving us our wrongs (Matthew 6:14-15). I once read: “ Heaven is where everyone's forgiven. Hell is where nobody's forgiven. So, when we forgive we pull heaven down into our lives. When we withhold forgiveness, we pull hell up into our lives ” Give yourself something nice today, Forgive.
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