Deceit

For whatever reason, God has placed strongly on my heart the desire to be honest and not be deceitful. My business dealings run head-on into this issue daily, if not hourly. In my profession of real estate appraisal I find myself struggling to maintain a successful business and do what I feel God has called me to do in this field - keep good folks from being deceived and be honest each and every day.

Just yesterday I was literally being asked by a loan officer to be marginally deceitful as I was watching a Senate sub-committee hearing on-line about Predatory Lending Practices which are robbing people of their hard-earned home equity and threatening our entire economy. As I was watching an appraiser describe how he's pressured daily to be deceitful, I had someone asking me on the phone to be deceitful - an almost an out-of-body experience as those two events went on simultaneously.

As is so often the case, my daily Bible reading presented two scriptures right before my nose yesterday and today. I've long since given up the notion this was just some odd coincidence.

Psalm 32:2
Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

Leviticus 19:13
13 Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him.

God has made it clear to me in Scripture and in His Spirit's prompting of my heart - He hates deceit.