file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db941122.txt
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OUR DAILY BREAD                     Tuesday, November 22, 1994
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READ:  Proverbs 12:17-22

               "ARE YOU DECEITFUL?"

      "Deceit is in the heart of those who
                   devise evil."

                - Proverbs 12:20

Two slick con men boarded a train that runs between
New York and Boston and singled out a prosperous-looking
man.  Sitting down next to him, they invited him to join
them in a game of cards.  It wasn't long until the
unsuspecting victim owed one of the other players several
hundred dollars.

The winner agreed to take a check, but once he had it in
his hands he acted conscience-stricken and tore it up.
"I never thought you'd lose so much money," he said.
"Let's call the whole thing off."  Impressed with his
apparent generosity, the loser insisted on writing a new
check.

Later, when he received his bank statement, he discovered
that both checks had been cashed.  The crook had apparently
slipped the first one into his pocket and torn up a blank
one instead.  His seeming generosity was a clever scheme
of deception.

We would all agree that such deception is despicable.  Yet
we have to admit that we all have a tendency to be deceit-
ful.  We deceive by wearing a mask of flattery, winking
at wrong, or saying we are just trying to be diplomatic,
but we are really following the example of the devil, the
father of lies (Jn. 8:44).

Lord, help us always to be truthful.

    -- Henry G. Bosch

 Deceitfulness lies deep within
 And makes our life incline toward sin;
 God's grace alone can cleanse the heart
 And cause this evil to depart.

    -- Anon.

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        THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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Oh, what a tangled web we weave when
   first we practice to deceive!

       - Sir Walter Scott

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  1 Corinthians 1-4

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Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49555, USA.
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