Psalm 18:26 says, “To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.”
Brother Xu, an elderly Christian, got up really early one Monday. After breakfast, Xu put on a pair of skinny trousers he had not worn for a long time.
Intending to purchase a SIM card in town, he wanted to look decent while out running errands.
He drove a new electric scooter downtown, but his vehicle had to stop on the sidewalk as roads outside the telecommunications office were under construction. Knowing that it was illegal to park there, he comforted himself that many vehicles had been left on the pavement and he would return soon. Another reason he parked there was because it seemed safe to park a new scooter in a place where there were many people walking back and forth.
Looking around, he realized a woman in charge of an empty grocery stand was staring at him in a bored manner. This reassured him that his scooter would be safe. However, the moment he walked out of the office he panicked because his new scooter was missing.
He searched for a long time, but failed to find anything. Thinking that his vehicle must be stolen, he hurried to the store. The idle proprietress told him that after he went in the office, all of the illegally parked vehicles, including his, were taken away by city security.
He found his scooter under a bridge and assumed that he would need to pay a fine. Since he didn’t know how much fine would be, he began to pray. Next, he walked toward the law enforcement office but suddenly halted at the door. Since he had seven hundred yuan in his jacket pocket, he thought his fine might be larger if the police would see how much money he had. He decided to put 600 into the back pocket of his trousers and keep 100 in his jacket pocket.
Walking into the office, he explained the situation to the police, and they asked him to show his scooter registration. Since he had not brought it with him, Xu was not permitted to drive his scooter back home, so he walked a long distance to the shop where he bought his vehicle. When he returned with proof that the scooter was his, he was told to pay a fine of just 50 yuan, much lower than he expected.
After everything was taken care of, he returned home. When he went to pull the money out of his back pocket, he found that there was nothing there, even though there was no hole in his pocket. At that time a verse popped into his head: Psalm 18:26 - “To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.” Realizing that his “cleverness” had brought a loss to himself, he regretted what he had done, but he couldn’t find the money.
Kneeling down, he repented before God. His petty tricks jeopardized the image of Christians, so he dedicated himself to correct his bad habits and to be a pure and honest person without “cleverness.”
Six hundred yuan dropped from his trousers onto the ground the instant he stood up, causing his eyes to become moist.
“God, we often conduct ourselves according to the ‘petty tricks’ in our minds, but your mercy and faithfulness never leave us,” he said.
(The original article is published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Karen Luo
在圣经诗篇18章26节说道：“清洁的人，你以清洁待他；乖僻的人，你以弯曲待他。”
这话明明写在圣经里，很多人会读，却不往心里去，今天给大家讲一个关于这方面的小见证。
徐弟兄是一位老基督徒，星期一的那天他起得很早，早饭过后，他找出了一条很久都没有穿过的裤子，这裤子的颜色和款式其实都挺好，而徐弟兄只穿过几回，便放在了柜里。
因为这条裤子有些偏瘦，在乡下做活没有那种宽松的服装得劲。
而今天，徐弟兄要去城里办电话卡，出门办事总要穿的得体一些，所以他找出了这条裤子穿在身上。
徐弟兄骑上新买不到两个月的电瓶车，在朝阳下，一路清风伴随，来到了县城。
电话办事大厅外正在施工，徐弟兄无法骑过去，便把新的电瓶车停放在了人行道上。
他知道这样停放是违规的行为，但这里已经有很多停放的车子了。
人总是在有了先例后，便不会去约束自己的行为，徐弟兄也照例这样做了。
他想自己进去办事不会太久，出来后便会离开，不会影响到别人的出行。
另外他想停放在这里的原因是，这里人来人往，自己新买的电瓶车放在这里会很安全。
徐弟兄把车锁好后，他看了看周围，发现路边的一家杂货店的的橱窗正对着自己的车子，没有顾客的老板娘正无聊地看着他。
徐弟兄心想，在这老板娘的眼皮子底下，谁还敢偷自己的车子。
徐弟兄放心地去办自己的事情去了。
当他从办事大厅出来后，意外出现了！
自己新买的电瓶车不见了！
他环视四周，找了很久，仍然不见自己的车子。
“坏了！
一定是让人给偷去了。”
这是徐弟兄的第一反应。
他急急忙忙来到杂货店的门口，开口去问没有生意可做的老板娘。
老板娘告诉他，车子没有被别人偷去，而是在徐弟兄前脚刚刚离开，综合执法的车子就到了，他们把所有违停的车子都给托走了。
老板娘还告诉徐弟兄，所有的车子都在彩虹桥的下面放着，快过去吧。
徐弟兄知道了事情的经过，便快步向彩虹桥的方向走去。
七八里的路程，徐弟兄是一路紧赶才到了彩虹桥。
他看到了自己的车子，却突然停下了脚步，他想到了一件事情，自己的车子违停，又被拖到这里，想白白拿回去一定不可能，无论是罚款还是有其他的说法，多少都要交点钱的。
可罚多罚少可不是自己说了算的，徐弟兄这个时候，想起了祷告。
简单地祷告结束后，他向综合执法的办公室走去，快到门口的时候，他又停下了。
他突然又想到了一件事情，自己的上衣口袋里有七百元钱，如果自己掏钱的时候，让对方看到了自己有钱，会不会多罚了自己？
他灵机一动想出了一个好办法。
他把上衣口袋的钱拿出来，抽出一张百元大票从新放在上衣口袋里，然后把另外六百元钱放在了裤兜里。
弟兄心想“如果他们要是罚太多，自己就说只有这一百元钱，不信让他们看自己的口袋。”
当他想到让他们看自己口袋的时候，他感觉放在裤兜里也不保准，于是他又把六百元钱从裤兜里拿出来，放到屁股后边的小兜里。
这样可以把裤兜也翻给他们看，来证明自己没有钱。
可他万万没有想到，这个屁兜一点也不结实，里边早已经开线了。
而弟兄却完全不知，还以为这样乖巧的做法很好。
他走进办公室，开始跟工作人员说明情况。
感谢神！
工作人员根本没有过多地难为他，只是让他先拿出车子的发货票，证明车子是他的。
然而弟兄的发货票在家里，不在自己的身上。
这可怎么办？
他想到了一个好主意，提出把自己的手机和身份证先放在这里，自己先骑车回去取。
可工作人员不同意。
工作人员告诉他可以去卖电瓶车的商家开一个证明来。
于是徐弟兄便离开了那里去了卖电瓶车的商铺。
一路上，他都没有想看看自己的屁兜里的钱，到底还在不在？
他的心思只在电瓶车上，另外，他们还没有提到交款的事情，所以他还不着急把屁兜里的钱拿出来。
来回的路程很远，因为修路公家车又不通，他只能徒步行走。
到了电瓶车商铺后，他顺利地开了证明，然后一步步又半带小跑似地返回到彩虹桥的执法大队，气喘吁吁他拿出证明。
让他没有想到的是，连罚款，带拖车费只要五十元，自己准备的技巧和方案一点都没有用上。
弟兄把准备好的那一百元钱递给工作人员，花五十元算是给自己买一个教训，徐弟兄心想，以后一定要遵守一切的法规。
事情处理好以后，弟兄就骑车回来了。
到家以后，他才想掏出屁兜里的六百元钱，然而，当他的手伸进屁兜时，他才惊讶地发现屁兜是坏的，里面一分钱都没有了。
这时他的脑海里突然出现了一句经文，就是诗篇18章26节说道的“清洁的人，你以清洁待他；乖僻的人，你以弯曲待他。”
弟兄知道是自己乖巧的做法，才使自己受到了损失，他后悔自己的所做，但似乎一切都晚了，自己走了那么多的路，连在哪里丢失的自己都不知道。
他在自家的水池边跪下来，开始从心里向神悔改。
他说，自己信主这么多年，实在是亏欠主！
经常用自己的小聪明做一些“乖巧”的事，实在有损信主人的形象，他立志从今以后要改掉自己的坏毛病，以后要诚诚实实做人做事，要成为一个内心清洁的人，再不耍小聪明，再不做“乖巧”的事情了。
当弟兄从地上起来的时候，从裤筒里掉在地上六百元钱，老弟兄的眼睛湿润了。
“神啊！
我们总是用自己的思想“乖巧”行事，但你的怜悯的慈爱却不离开我们。”
“乖巧”行事的老弟兄认错后，在地上出现了六百元钱
Psalm 18:26 says, “To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.”
Brother Xu, an elderly Christian, got up really early one Monday. After breakfast, Xu put on a pair of skinny trousers he had not worn for a long time.
Intending to purchase a SIM card in town, he wanted to look decent while out running errands.
He drove a new electric scooter downtown, but his vehicle had to stop on the sidewalk as roads outside the telecommunications office were under construction. Knowing that it was illegal to park there, he comforted himself that many vehicles had been left on the pavement and he would return soon. Another reason he parked there was because it seemed safe to park a new scooter in a place where there were many people walking back and forth.
Looking around, he realized a woman in charge of an empty grocery stand was staring at him in a bored manner. This reassured him that his scooter would be safe. However, the moment he walked out of the office he panicked because his new scooter was missing.
He searched for a long time, but failed to find anything. Thinking that his vehicle must be stolen, he hurried to the store. The idle proprietress told him that after he went in the office, all of the illegally parked vehicles, including his, were taken away by city security.
He found his scooter under a bridge and assumed that he would need to pay a fine. Since he didn’t know how much fine would be, he began to pray. Next, he walked toward the law enforcement office but suddenly halted at the door. Since he had seven hundred yuan in his jacket pocket, he thought his fine might be larger if the police would see how much money he had. He decided to put 600 into the back pocket of his trousers and keep 100 in his jacket pocket.
Walking into the office, he explained the situation to the police, and they asked him to show his scooter registration. Since he had not brought it with him, Xu was not permitted to drive his scooter back home, so he walked a long distance to the shop where he bought his vehicle. When he returned with proof that the scooter was his, he was told to pay a fine of just 50 yuan, much lower than he expected.
After everything was taken care of, he returned home. When he went to pull the money out of his back pocket, he found that there was nothing there, even though there was no hole in his pocket. At that time a verse popped into his head: Psalm 18:26 - “To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.” Realizing that his “cleverness” had brought a loss to himself, he regretted what he had done, but he couldn’t find the money.
Kneeling down, he repented before God. His petty tricks jeopardized the image of Christians, so he dedicated himself to correct his bad habits and to be a pure and honest person without “cleverness.”
Six hundred yuan dropped from his trousers onto the ground the instant he stood up, causing his eyes to become moist.
“God, we often conduct ourselves according to the ‘petty tricks’ in our minds, but your mercy and faithfulness never leave us,” he said.
(The original article is published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Karen Luo
Testimony: God Shows Himself to the Pure
