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Key Bible Verse: Just say a simple, 'Yes, I will,' or 'No, I won't.' Your word is enough ( Matthew 5:37). Bonus Reading: Psalm 130:1-8

I often made a call like this: "Hey, Brian, I hope you get this message in time. I'm sorry, but I seem to have double-scheduled. I won't be there at 12:30. I'll try to reach you later. What's next week look like?"

I became adept at unraveling the double-schedule knot, since I found myself caught in it every few weeks. Why? Because I'd fill my life with activity yet prize being available for requests from friends. So I'd agree to an opportunity before I knew I had the time.

The only way to shake this habit, I realized, was to stop seeing it simply as a mistake, oversight, or personality quirk winked at by my friends. I needed to see it as sin, a painful example of my willingness to view my time as more important than that of my friends. Simply apologizing for the inconvenience of having to reschedule didn't cut it; I had to ask forgiveness that my yes wasn't yes.

Once I started asking for forgiveness, I noticed a change. I double booked less because I was more careful with my schedule and more thoughtful with my friends. Dealing with my sin as sin helped me become a more faithful friend.

—Richard Lamb in The Pursuit of God in the Company of Friends

My Response: What do I need to stop excusing as a harmless quirk and label as sin?

Thought to Apply: Conversion may occur in an instant, but the process of coming from sinfulness into a new life can be a long and arduous journey.—CHARLES COLSON

Adapted from The Pursuit of God in the Company of Friends (InterVarsity, 2003) by permission.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Forgive me, Lord, for presuming to receive deliverance from the penalty of sin without an all-out effort to cooperate with You in escaping its power.

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