Pam Padgett ... teacher
John 1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
Being without guile is something each of us should strive for ... Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. (Psalm 34:13)
Guile: trick, deceit, cunning stratagem, craft, subtilty (not open
& direct), wile (devious or cunning stratagem employed
to manipulate or persuade someone to do what one wants)
When we speak in guile, we do not speak in a forthright way, openly and
honestly. Instead, we use subtle means to try to manipulate another
person's perception, trying to get them to see things as we want.
But
this is not how we, as Christians, are to speak. We are to speak pure
truth, not trying to pervert or compromise the truth in some way to
accomplish our own desires.
1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we
lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in
the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin
A few months before I retired, I prayed fervently for several days about
a meeting I was to attend. I knew the presentation being given to a
vice president in this meeting had been carefully crafted to make a
project sound in better condition than it was. It also concerned me that I
might burst out in anger when I heard what was presented, and had prayed that God would help me speak what was right in His sight, but nothing more. At the
meeting when the
presentation started to be given, however, the vice-president stopped it, turned to
the
rest of us in the room, and said he wanted to hear from us. I had never
heard of anything like this happening before. Without thinking, I
started
talking very calmly, laying out the truth about the project. (The vice-president
took immediate action to address the problems.)
While thinking about guile, I recalled what happened here. God not only answered my prayer by keeping me calm, but the truth (light) came forth instead of the planned guile.
God is light. Guile is a way of darkness. We cannot speak what is right in the sight of God and speak in guile.
(Comments by Joan Boney ... One reason humans speak "guile" is they want to look good in the eyes of other humans. When we purpose to make ourselves of "no reputation" it is easier.)