Are you a murderer?

Jeremiah 17:9-10  “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful,
a puzzle that no one can figure out.
But I, God, search the heart
and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human.
I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are,
not as they pretend to be.”

This scripture has been in my mind for several days. I have the opportunity to talk with a lot of people and hear their stories, different versions of the same story told to different people. With me being the common denominator between the various speakers and listeners I am privileged to hear all the versions of the same story, which prompted me to think of this scripture.

One thing that was pounded into me for my whole life was that God is not the author of confusion.

1 Corinthians 14:33 God doesn’t stir us up into confusion; he brings us into harmony. This goes for all the churches—no exceptions.

Another thing I learned is that when you hear two people tell a tale and they vary, the truth is always somewhere in the middle so why would I tell either party what is actually being said?

Proverbs 6:16-19 Here are six things God hates,
and one more that he loathes with a passion: Eyes that are arrogant,
a tongue that lies, hands that murder the innocent, a heart that hatches evil plots, feet that race down a wicked track, a mouth that lies under oath, a troublemaker in the family.

So as a child I wasn’t really told about the sins of the flesh, although the denomination in which I was raised did teach the evils of wearing red lipstick, excess jewelry and to be sure seeing a moving picture show would send you straight to hell, however since that time all of those rules have been struck through by the younger generation of ministers and administrators, no, the great sin, the one I was sure to be guilty of and go to hell for was causing confusion, especially among church members and most especially in the family! The younger generation along with striking through some of the other rules has also forgotten that God is a God that requires love.

It is said that if you have hate in your heart you are a murderer, if that is true then there are perhaps some murderers reading this very writing, are you one?  Only God knows the truth.

1 John 3:15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.