Have you renounced all secret and shameful ways, all thoughts and behaviors that your sense of honor won’t allow to come to light? You know you can easily keep them hidden. Is there a thought in your heart about another person that you wouldn’t want revealed? Renounce it as soon as it springs up. Renounce all such thoughts, until there is nothing hidden or dishonest or cunning about you. Envy, jealousy, strife—these things don’t necessarily arise from your sinful disposition, but rather from the makeup of your body, which was used for this kind of thing in days gone by. “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin” (1 Peter 4:1). Maintain a continual watchfulness over your flesh, so that nothing shameful arises in your life.
“Not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully . . .” (2 Corinthians 4:2 kjv). To renounce craftiness is to give up the kind of sly, cunning arguments that will allow you to make your point. Craftiness is a great trap. You know that God will let you work in one way only—complete honesty and adherence to the gospel. Never try to catch people in any other way; God’s judgment will be upon you if you do.
Never blunt your sense of doing your utmost for God’s highest, and never compare yourself to others. Others may be operating in ways that are perfectly all right for them, but which for you would be sly and cunning. If you were to engage in these methods, it would mean using craftiness to achieve an end other than his highest, blunting the motive God gave you. Remember that God has given you a different point of view—his. Many have backed down because they are afraid of looking at things from God’s viewpoint.
