Freedom from Guile

No man can be a holy man of God if he does not strive with all his heart to remove guile from his life completely. The remnant pictured in Revelation 14:1-5, are described as having no guile whatsoever. Very often, there is more guile in us than we think. There is not one of us who will not have to confess, if we are honest, that we often seek to give a better impression of ourselves to others than is really the case. We need to get rid of this habit. We need to battle against it constantly and put it to death, if we are to be really holy. We should strive to be transparent and to be known as we actually are. I know this is not easy. It is a life-long battle to be always free from all guile. But this is the first step, and there will never be any revival anywhere without this. We are long fooling ourselves if we think that God is going to answer our prayers for revival if we don't make a determined effort to get rid of guile from our lives.

It is guile that hinders real Christian fellowship too. All too often, hidden grudges and an unforgiving spirit are harboured in the hearts of Christian leaders and missionaries. Beneath an outwardly pleasant facade of spirituality are these slimy evils of the bottomless pit. These must be exposed and forsaken if we are to be holy men of God.

Guile and hypocrisy were the sins that Jesus condemned more than any other. "Beware," He told His disciples, "of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy." When this sin appeared in the early church, God dealt with it drastically. He immediately slew the couple involved, lest the whole lump be leavened by this little leaven (Acts 5).

I have often read and meditated on Jesus' testimony about Nathaniel, "Behold a man in whom there is no guile;" and I have wondered whether there is any greater commendation we could covet than that. We need to ask ourselves whether God can say the same about us. Alas so often He cannot—for He sees in us the sins that we have carefully tucked away from the eyes of our fellow-men.- Blessed indeed is the man in whom there is no guile.

—Zac Poonen