Psalm 7:12-16
“If anyone does not repent, God will sharpen His sword;
He has strung His bow and made it ready.
He has prepared His deadly weapons; He tips His arrows with fire.
See, the wicked one is pregnant with evil, conceives trouble, and gives birth to deceit.
He dug a pit and hollowed it out but fell into the hole he had made.
His trouble comes back on his own head, and his violence falls on the top of his head.”
The Emperor Charlemagne also called Charles the Great, was King of the Franks, King of the Lombards and the first Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. After the fall of the Old Roman Empire, he was the first to reunite the west and rule over Rome. When he commissioned something to be built, he wanted the best.
There is a tale of an artist named Tancho who was asked to create a magnificent bell for the tower of the Emperors’s Cathedral at Aachen. Being both the chapel of the King’s palace and the center of the imperial capitol, this bell had to be extravagant.
Per the Artist’s request, Tancho was provided a great quantity of copper, and a hundred pounds of silver for the creation of the bell. Tancho secretly kept the silver and substituted tin, a much cheaper metal in it’s place.
When the work was completed, Tancho proudly presented the bell to the Emperor who had it placed in the church tower. The people, however, were not able to hear the beautiful new bell ring. So Tancho himself was called in to help.
The artist soon arrived. He began to pull the cord to swing the bell. The tin he had placed inside deadened the sound. So Tancho pulled harder, and harder. Suddenly the clapper inside the bell broke free and fell down through the tower, crushing Tancho and taking him to his death.
His greed and that cheap tin did him in.
I have had folks tell me that God is different in the New Testament. That He allows people to lie to Him, steal from Him and doesn’t do anything about it. I don’t think this is true. Like Tancho, Ananias and Sapphira tried to look good, but were actually stealing (Acts 5:1-11).
Galatians 6:7 “Don’t be deceived, God cannot be fooled. We reap what we sow.”
So, what are you sowing today?
Faithfulness and honesty in your walk with the Lord,
or is it all for show?
Jesus tells the disciples in Luke 12:2-3
“Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.”
Be authentic. Ring the bell with confidence. Make sure the whole world knows, you truly love the Lord!
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