A Thought for the week
Week of October 12
The merchant uses dishonest scales and loves to defraud. Ephraim boasts, “I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.” Hosea 12:7-8
As we read this passage, we may feel vindicated. We may think I’m not rich, I don’t defraud others, or I’m not dishonest with my wealth. Hosea is using this economic language to describe those who fall into these types of boasting. We can find ourselves being proud and beating our chest in triumph that we are saved by God and following Him, but we all live in ways that are dishonest. Maybe we treat people we don’t agree with in disdain. For example, we can be aggressive in our Facebook comments on posts we don’t agree with. We act in sinful ways in private but boast of our righteousness in public and most of the time we are not even aware. As you go into this next week, reflect on how you live your life. Are there parts of your life that could be counted as dishonest behavior while at the same time you are boasting of your life in Christ?