Pam Padgett ... teacher
Many years ago I worked with my parents in the meat processing business they
owned. One day a health inspector came
and noticed that one of the machines might not have been cleaned according to
the health department rules. I was
standing near this machine, and he asked me about the cleaning. I knew the way the machine had been cleaned
was not per the rules. Although I knew
my dad wouldn’t be upset if I did so, I didn’t want to say anything that would
reflect badly on him. But also I didn’t want to lie. As I considered how to handle this, I knew
that if he had asked my dad, my dad would tell him the truth, and this was
actually my dad's responsibility. So I
asked him to talk with my dad. He
started laughing loudly, and told my dad what had happened, saying it was
obvious I didn’t want to say anything against my dad, but also didn’t want to
lie.
My mom and I
went to my parents’ home for lunch and, while there, this inspector came to
their home and asked if he could talk with me.
He said my dad told him it wasn’t surprising I hadn’t lied about the
machine because I read the Bible and take all of this very seriously. The inspector said he needed to talk with
someone who would tell him the truth regarding a personal matter.
When he was
in high school this inspector had dated a girl and fallen in love with her. They planned to marry after he graduated from
college. However, while he was in
college, she decided to marry someone else.
Now the inspector was probably in his early thirties, and said he had
never met another woman he loved like this woman, so he never married. Recently, this woman and her husband divorced
and she had contacted him, wanting to resume their relationship and marry. He wanted very much to marry her, but needed
to know if this would cause her to sin.
He said he loved her too much to want to do anything that would cause her
to sin.
This man obviously believed that sin is very serious. And his desire to seek out someone who had
proved they would tell the truth in a difficult situation struck me. Many seek out what they want to hear.
My flesh
wanted very much to tell him what I knew he wanted to hear ... that it should be
fine for them to marry. But, instead, I
shared with him what the Bible says about divorce and remarriage, telling him I
saw no way they could marry without committing adultery.
Matt. 5:32 But I say unto you, That
whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth
her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced
committeth adultery.
Mark 10:11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall
put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12 And if
a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth
adultery.Although this was obviously not what he wanted
to hear, he thanked me for telling him the truth and left. I wrote down several scriptures that deal
with remarriage after divorce and sent these to him. Not long after this I moved, and never saw or
heard from him again.
While recalling these things this
evening, it stood out to me how
important it is to hold to the truth.
Sometimes it is very difficult to do this. Our flesh wants very much to do what seems
easy and pleasing. The devil brings thoughts opposite to the truth, and tells
us that the truth isn’t important. But
we cannot please God unless we hold to the truth.
Jeremiah 9: 1 Oh that my head were waters,
and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain
of the daughter of my people! 2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place
of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be
all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 3 And they bend their tongues
like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth;
for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the
Lord.
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