Hey, it's time for some encouragement from your friends at Our Daily Bread.

Marvin Williams penned today's devotional, and it's titled, Speaking Truthfully in Christ.

A man was adept at beating his personal traffic tickets by lying. When he appeared before

various judges in court, he would tell the same tale. I broke up with my girlfriend and she took my car

without my knowledge. In addition, he had been repeatedly reprimanded for misconduct while on the job.

Prosecutors finally charged him with four counts of perjury and five counts of forgery for allegedly lying to judges under oath and providing fictitious police reports.

For this man, lying had become a lifelong habit. In contrast, the Apostle Paul said that

telling the truth is a vital habit for believers in Jesus to live out. He reminded

the Ephesians that they had put away their old way of living through surrendering their

lives to Christ. Now they needed to live like the new people they had become, incorporating

specific actions into their lives.

One such action was something to cease, put off falsehood.

And the other action, something to practice.

Speak truthfully to your neighbor.

Because it protected the unity of the church, the Ephesians were to always have their

words and actions be about building others up. As the Holy Spirit helps us, believers in Jesus

can strive for truth in their words and actions. Then the church will be unified, and God will be honored.

Today's Our Daily Brad Devotional Scripture reading is from Ephesians Chapter 4,

verses 22 through 29.

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put

on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness

and holiness. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor,

...