Topic: Guiltless? [Friday June 23, 2017]
Text: Proverbs 24:21-34
Key Verse: “Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips” (Proverbs 24:28).
A story is told of a policeman who witnessed an accident while on duty. In that accident, a graduate was knocked down by a reckless driver and he died on the spot. The policeman, who was at the scene, told the driver to give him some money and move on.
That was done and the policeman was said to have told people that the young man was knocked down by a hit-and-run driver. Some years after he had retired from service, his son who just returned from abroad where he studied was knocked down exactly at the point where his father covered up a crime years back. So, when the old man heard what happened, he confessed to those around him what he did. Nowadays, wickedness rules the world as some people go out of their way to say outright falsehood against their neighbour.
People are paid to frame-up others in criminal cases, while some manifest all manner of wickedness to please people. It is wisdom that citizens conduct themselves in a manner by which they can cohabit with others in society. If for any reason one shows partiality in passing a judgment between parties, then the judgment is unjust.
People will detest those officials who make judgments that allow wicked people to continue their wickedness. One should not generate unnecessary dispute with neighbours; and if there is any, the truth should be spoken. Even if one is wrong, retaliation is not justified. There should be no room for laziness for it has negative impacts on one’s life. Moreover as a thief unexpectedly comes upon his victim, so poverty will seize the possessions of the lazy.
Thought for the day: ‘Though hands join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished’
Bible Reading in one Year: Daniel 11-12
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.