Did You Tell a Lie Today?

Did you tell a lie today?  We laugh at the tale of Pinoccio whose nose grew when he told a lie but the story tells and important truth.  Lying is morally wrong even though the society we live in sets us up to excuse lies. Why did God put “Thou shall not lie” in the Ten Commandments anyway?

What is a Lie?

According to the Bible, a lie is an untrue statement or action that creates a false impression. The Bible condemns lying and considers it a sin, and some passages prescribe severe penalties for it.  God gave laws for His people so they would live differently from the other nations and reflect His character.  D.L.Moody wrote, “we divide lies into white lies and black lies, society lies and business lies, etc. The Word of God knows no such letting-down of the standard.”

Leviticus 19:11b   …you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.

Proverbs 19:5    A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape.

The two most common lies in our world are ‘I’m fine’ and ‘You’ll be okay’. They are said without harmful intent, and often said in an attempt to calm worries, but still they tell us it is not okay to make another person uncomfortable or to draw too much attention to ourselves.

 

We lie more than we think. And that’s part of the problem….There’s a big difference between blurting out rude thoughts (as in the Jim Carey movie Liar Liar) and being truthful, just as there is between gentle tact and gentle lying…. We are slow to face the truth of the contrast between our character and God’s.

To some, the stark conclusion that all forms of lying violate God’s holiness will sound unreasonable or extreme—too black and white—and dismissive of the intellectual difficulty of the matter. I see the main problem as spiritual. I think we find it hard to confess the evil of lying because we fail to embrace the full goodness of the Truth.                                                                                     Sarah Sumner,  “The Seven Levels of Lying”  Christianity Today   May 2011

 

Why Does God Hate Lies?

Satan told Eve a lie, ” you shall not die”, when he enticed her to eat the apple causing her to doubt God. (Gen.3}   Lies cause mistrust, stir up trouble and can actually cause health problems.  Jesus called out the Pharisees because of their misuse of God’s law.

John 8:44     You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

When someone says, “well that is my truth” it means truth is relative to that individual. It says that when someone makes a claim, that claim is made true or false by what they believe or how they feel, rather than by the way the world actually is.  It is sometimes used to end an argument as their opinion is non-negotiable.

 

The Opposite of a Lie is to Tell the Truth

John 14:6    Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Truth is important to God. His word is truth and God cannot lie. We can always trust whatever God says will happen in His time.  There are many reasons why we lie. We lie to protect ourself or someone else, lies are used as a coping mechanism or to manipulate a person or situation. As followers of God and His word we must guard against the natural instict to lie.

Sometimes telling the truth requires distraction. “Yes, there is ice cream, but we will have some after dinner.”   Often it requires determined courage to admit a failure. “I got a late start on my report. I’m sorry, but I will have it finished soon.”  Little lies told to a spouse can later turn into a bigger problem.

 O, what a tangled web we weave;
When first we practice to deceive!

SIR WALTER SCOTT

 

Matthew 5:37    Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Colossians 3:9–10    Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices  and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Whatever tempts us most—whether it is a white lie of social convention, a lie embedded in a broken promise, a workplace lie of self-preservation, a lie mixed in with an act of faith, the lie that the world is fine without Jesus Christ, or the lie that Christ’s salvation isn’t enough—the temptation to lie is very real.      Sarah Sumner

 

So, did you tell a lie today?  God cares about our character and our hearts.  Integrity is making sure that the things you say and the things you do are in alignment.  Let us make our daily prayer like David’s.

Psalm 19:14    Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.