Validation

Jos 24:21  But the people told Joshua: "No! No! We worship GOD!" 
Jos 24:22  And so Joshua addressed the people: "You are witnesses against yourselves 
that you have chosen GOD for yourselves--to worship him." And they said, "We are 
witnesses." 

"Raise your right hand and repeat after me. I will speak the whole truth and nothing but 
the truth". 

	Some find letting a falsehood pass their lips to be quite acceptable and even part 
of living itself. After all, maybe "I was just kidding." or "It would have hurt more to tell 
the truth.", or "It really is true. It's just how you look at it.". There is often a really 
developed gift in letting these alterations replace the "whole" and "nothing but" that truth 
is made of. Finding success and even promotion to be the normal result of this 
transgression, there is great confidence and conviction in the need for the use of a lie. 
Unless there is a change brought to the setting or the consequence, there will most likely 
be no convincing reason to alter from the falsehood's mode of operation. After all, if 
you're good enough, you won't get caught anyway. 
	Change is brought to the setting, however, and the consequence of perjury 
ensured when there is a vow of truth made before a court of law. No longer is there a 
freedom from accountability for every single word spoken. From the point of the vow, 
every word becomes a witness to something that must be upheld by the evidence of 
reality. It won't be that something is accepted just because it is spoken. Those words will 
now be held up against the evidence of what actually took place in the reality of living. 
As soon as there is a variance from the truth revealed in the smallest of details, there will 
now be a loss of credibility and believability for every other phrase spoken. This variance 
may also then be punished itself in a manner worse than the admission of truth. Even 
though this is true, it is incredibly frequent that people will place their hand on the Bible 
and do all the repeating, and still verbalize something they know to be completely false. 
Instead of escaping a perceived consequence by evading what must be upheld in reality, 
false words after the vow only serve as a witness against the speaker. They must be 
supported by reality. 
	This choice for God is not just a passing skew of the truth. This, after all, is God 
Himself. More impacting and eternal than the court, the statement that embraces God 
cannot be made along with the other meaningless falsehoods. This statement, like the 
words spoken in court, becomes the most condemning if it isn't confirmed and supported 
by the evidence of a life lived for Him. It may be that mercy is new every morning and 
forgiveness awaits repentance, but there is a demand made on the character of honesty 
when the vow of commitment is made  to the Lordship of Jesus. Either He is Lord or He 
is not, and the vow of commitment to Him only serves as a witness against if it isn't lived 
out in the life of the committed.                                                                                                        
	Let the words of my mouth and even the meditation of my heart be an honest 
confirmation of the Lordship of Jesus in my life. May each one be an ongoing vow of 
faithfulness to my relationship with Him. Instead of giving credence to the challenge of 
His involvement in my life, may my every utterance of Him as Lord be validated with a 
life that reflects the truth of this statement. May my words be lived in a lifestyle of 
confirming worship.

11/29/05