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Everyone should have a will. Even the penniless person should have a will because he might be hit by a bus and his estate might have a claim against the bus company.

The prophet Isaiah told king Hezekiah, “Set your house in order, for you shall die” (II Kings 20:1). Any person, wealthy or not, male or female, has the privilege under law and custom dating back to Bible times of determining the guardians for his or her children, as well as the privileges they shall enjoy if the maker of the will dies while the children are young. Wills can provide for the care of the wife or husband, and gifts to religious organizations and others charities.

Without a will, the state might apply a rigid set of rules to give the wife only a percentage of an estate, usually one-third, and the children would get the remainder. If there is no surviving husband, wife, or children, the possessions of a lifetime may be given to brothers, sisters, or nieces and nephews. Usually, nothing goes to a charity unless it is designated in a will.

A will is a very simple document to write and to execute. For maximum protection against challenges, a will should be signed and declared to be a last will and testament in the presence of two or three witnesses who are assembled at the signing and who are not beneficiaries under the will.

Without question, a valid will and a thorough estate plan are a vital part of stewardship for every Christian. Wills can be rewritten and re-executed as circumstances change. To write a will does not mean that death will soon follow, as many superstitiously fear.

The Bible says, “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). Stealing is taking without permission what belongs to somebody else. It can involve tangible and intangible things. Stealing would include thefts from households, shoplifting, pilfering, industrial espionage, embezzlement, and similar acts.

Dishonesty of all sorts, including stealing, has reached epidemic levels in society. Many Christians are involved in stealing without knowing it. It is possible, for instance, even to steal time. In most businesses the payroll is the biggest expense. Yet studies have shown that the average worker gives perhaps thirty-two to thirty-three hours a week instead of forty. When long lunch hours or time spent at the coffee machine, gazing out the window, or visiting with neighbors are added up, the amount is staggering.

It is true, too, that people are careless with the use of company stamps, stationery, paper clips, tools, and parts. This is stealing. In one factory, where many hand tools were disappearing, management decided to have a search of the employees as they left for home at the end of the work day. When this announcement was made, as the workers were preparing to exit, there was the sound of metal dropping all over the yard. Because the workers did not want to get caught, they just dropped stolen wrenches, hammers, and screwdrivers, leaving the yard littered with tools.

People do not pay their bills on time, denying interest to the companies they owe. People take merchandise home and use it and then return it as if it had never been used. People borrow books and tools and never return them.

Not correcting clerks when they undercharge one for goods purchased is stealing. Claiming credit for someone else’s work or achievement is a form of stealing. Company officers who divert corporate opportunities to their own personal gain are stealing. God desires complete honesty from His people. Any form of stealing should be forsaken as not worthy of God’s children

There is only one way that evil can overcome a Christian, and that is if the Christian returns evil for evil. If someone insults you and snarls at you, you are not overcome. You are overcome if you begin to snarl right back. Then the unpleasant person has become your role model. You are copying evil and evil is overcoming you.

If someone hates you and you hate him back, then evil is getting the victory. If someone strikes you and you strike back, then you have become like the evil one.

The Bible says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). If someone reviles you, you are to smile back and say, “God bless you.” The person will not know how to react to that, and you have overcome him. You have won. That person has not changed you, but you have gone on the offensive with the most powerful weapon in the world–love! If someone strikes you on the cheek, Jesus said you should turn the other cheek (see Matthew 5:39, Luke 6:29). And that will leave your adversary totally confused! And then on top of that you should say, “I love you.”

If someone forces you to go one mile, go two miles. If someone takes your coat, give him your shirt as well (see Matthew 5:40-41). Do so graciously, cheerfully, even assertively. God has given you the spiritual weapons to discern who your enemies are and then to conquer them by making them your friends. (Of course, as long as there are vicious criminals and international tyrants in the world, there must be a system of restraint through local or international police. In Romans 13, police and legitimate armies are considered by the apostle Paul as “ministers of God” to bring vengeance on lawbreakers.)

The ninth commandment says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). Two or three witnesses were needed in ancient Hebrew law to establish a claim under civil law or a crime under criminal law. A false witness could lie under oath during judicial proceedings in order to establish guilt in a criminal case, or fault in a civil case. Since judgment based on false testimony could destroy the life or property of innocent human beings and discredit a country’s system of justice, the penalty for perjury was very severe.

But the commandment against bearing false witness has a much broader application. Outside the context of the courts, it is termed slander. It is possible to bear false witness or slander by spreading rumors. For example, a well-known gospel singer was picked up in Los Angeles because of his careless driving. A search of his care revealed some white powder, and he was booked on a drug charge. It turned out that the white powder was a diet mix, and so the singer was discharged from his arrest and confinement.

It was too late to stop the false rumors that this man was involved in drug dealing. These rumors hurt the man’s career and reputation. Those who spread them were guilty of bearing false witness.

Frequently people say untrue things about others. Marriages are broken up because of false rumors that someone has spread. Reputations of honest and honorable people are damaged. I can think of several times when rumors have started about me. Christian people not only believe falsehoods but also pass these stories on without even stopping to investigate. Starting lies about someone or spreading them is bearing false witness, a terrible offense in the sight of God.

A Christian might not be involved in drug addiction, drunkenness, fornication, adultery, or homosexuality, but a Christian may be big on slander and backbiting. I can think of no practice–other than deep-seated hatred and lack of forgiveness–that will so quickly cut off the blessing and power of God in a Christian’s life.

Lying is a deliberate attempt to deceive by use of any form of untruth. By words, gestures, circumstances, or silence an attempt may be made to convince another that there is a reality different from what we know to be true. The book of James tells us, “Let your ‘Yes,’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’ lest you fall into judgment” (James 5:12). Our word should be our bond. A person who feigns illness to avoid work is lying.

A person who has his secretary say he is out, when he is in, is lying and forcing her to lie too. A person who fails to declare his income accurately on his tax return is lying. A person who falsifies his achievements or age is lying. A person who covers up or exaggerates facts is lying. A person who misrepresents merchandise is lying. A person who bears false witness against another breaks the ninth commandment by lying, and one who does so in court is guilty of the crime of perjury.

A woman came to evangelist Billy Sunday on one occasion and asked, “Reverend Sunday, how can I stop exaggerating?” He looked at her and said, “Call it lying.” It is the same way with the “little white lies.” There is no such thing as “a little white lie.” Lies are lies.

Yet lying is a part of society. We train our children to lie. For example, suppose you go to someone’s house for dinner, and they give you a delicious meal. If you say, “That was delicious,” you have told the truth and everything is fine. But what if you go to someone’s house and they serve you something that is absolutely terrible, and you say, “That was the most delicious meal I have ever had”? You are lying. You may have done it for a good reason–a white lie–but you still lied. Honestly praise something, or be silent; but do not lie! The Bible tells us that by “speaking the truth in love, (we) may grow up in all things into Him who is the head–Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).

People take little children to visit a relative and, by telling them to say certain things that they do not mean, teach them to lie. People go to church and sing hymns to God they do not mean. We sing a song called “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” One stanza reads, “let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also.” This song was written by a man facing excommunication and possible death for his faith. Yet how many communicants in the church he founded–or in any other–are willing to make such a commitment? So we sing lies to God.

We must begin to be truthful to God and to one another. There is no way that the Holy Spirit can operate in someone’s life if there is a lack of truth. The Spirit of God is the spirit of truth. Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). It is a dreadful condemnation on us as evangelicals that the term evangelistically speaking means the exaggeration of attendance figures. We only honor God when we exhibit truth and integrity in everything we do.