| Colossians 3:9 – “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices” |
Most of us would probably be offended if someone questioned our truthfulness. We’d say, “I know I have problems, but lying is not one of them.” But, self-check time. The truth is, we all struggle to be truthful. If you’re not struggling, then you’re not truthful, because our human tendency is to bend the truth to our own advantage.
Think of some of the ways that we easily can fall into lying. There’s the half-truth. You tell the truth as far as you go, but you just don’t tell the whole truth, so that you convey a false impression.
Then there’s exaggeration—you stretch the truth a bit to make yourself look better or worse than you really are.
There are so-called “white lies,” little untruths that supposedly don’t hurt anyone.
Hypocrisy, where we try to make others think that we are more spiritual than we really are.
Then there are silent lies, where someone says something complimentary about you that isn’t true, but you let it go by without correcting it.
There are evasive lies, where you change the subject without answering the question, but you leave a false impression.
There are polite lies, where you say something nice (but untrue) to avoid hurting the other person’s feelings.
And, as often comes out with government officials, there are cover-up lies, where the liar rationalizes that to tell the truth would hurt people or might compromise our government’s security.
But the Bible, including our text, makes it plain that we must be truthful. We must be truthful to be like our Savior, who is the truth. If we’re in Him, members of His body, then we must represent Him by being truthful. So as new creatures in Christ, created by God, growing to be more like Him, we must put aside all lying and falsehood. We must be growing to become people marked by truth in and through Him.
Lord, help me to be truthful in all I say and do. Help me to realize the importance of the truth in all matters. I seek your guidance as I attempt to remain in your will. Amen
-Donna Stauber
