day 1360: Who Said That?

"The Man answered, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and, all your mind.', And, 'Love your neighbor a yourself.'"

We love Wikepedia and other sites where we can go and find quotes and find out who said what, when.  Many times we are amazed with what we find.  We think we know, and then we find out that we really don't know who said what, why they said it, nor when they said it.  But, we end up quoting and carrying the message when we don't really know.  The internet helps make that happen for sure, but we shouldn't be so lazy to not really know before we spread something that might not be true.  Businesses are scared to death of this.  A quote or attribution to a company, or a company executive that is not true can be devastating and take years, if not forever, to eradicate the untruth.  We must be careful in what we say and how we say it, both inside and outside our companies.  The risk is too high to be sloppy or lazy.

As believers, do we know God's Word well enough to know what Jesus, or others in the Bible said?  God encourages us to dig deep into His Word so that what is there becomes part of who we are.  Being able to quote Jesus, or the Bible can be powerful and an easy way to share our faith.  Not long ago, in the middle of a business presentation I was able to use a Proverb and after it was obvious that this was exactly what they needed to hear, I was able to say, "That comes from the Bible, by the way".  It was a great moment to see those who had written down the quote look up at me with that, "You got me" look.  I smiled.  God's Word and knowing who said what is how we can carry the Good News forward.

Reference: Luke 10:27 (New Living Translation)