Day 289
Zechariah 8:17
"And let none of you imagine evil against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord."
Who do we enjoy being around? It certainly would not be the people who do the things we hate. All of us not only want to be around the right people, but we want the right people to want to be around us. Certainly we want God to enjoy being around us. So, let us take into consideration the things He hates and avoid doing them.
Through the prophet Zechariah, God revealed that He hates for people to plan to do evil against other people. To avoid planning evil against others, including our own household members, we must walk in love and forgive quickly. We must rebuke thoughts of envy and jealousy and subject our minds to thoughts that are lovely, pure, peacemaking, praise producing and virtuous.
Through Zechariah, we also learn that God hates false oaths. The Lord is faithful to His Word. He will not alter one word that has left His lips. He watches over His Word to perform it. His Word is forever settled in Heaven. The only time we will ever see the Word not come to pass is when it depends on human cooperation and not on God alone. God fulfills His Word 100 percent of the time for things He does not require human cooperation on. If His Word does not come to pass in our lives, the failure is never with God. Even with the things that depend on human response, His Word has been shown to be dependable every time He has found someone to do exactly what He says. For example, when hundreds of thousands of Israelites died in the wilderness instead of entering the land God promised to give them because of their disobedience, other hundreds of thousands did possess it, because they followed God's instructions on how to get in.
Because integrity means so much to God, he hates to see people promising one thing and doing another. We must endeavor to be people who are very slow to make promises, so we can be sure we can keep the promises we make. If our word is not good, it hinders our faith. When we practice keeping our own word, it helps us understand how God always keeps His Word. Our integrity also makes it more enjoyable for God to be around us.
I will manage my thought life and reject any thoughts of evil toward anyone. I will walk in love and forgive quickly. I will watch 119' mouth and be slow to make promises. With God's help, I will keep the promises I make. God will enjoy being around me, for I will avoid doing the things He hates.