No Lie?

[sunestauromai]

Lying is so much a part of our culture today that we barely notice. We have learned to expect and overlook the lies of politicians and government officials. We also excuse the media for their deliberate distortions of the truth, now that the ruse is up and we understand they are spinners of reality and arms of powerful political entities rather than reporters of news or journalists. Lies are the norm in business, advertising, education, and even in our churches. They are a part of our homes and we even lie to ourselves.

Has God changed his mind about lying? Did we get that one wrong in the Bible and it is actually acceptable to lie as a lifestyle, or at least under certain circumstances? NO! God speaks against lying all through the Bible, and he never condones it. Read through the Word of God when you’re holding a lie you’ve told inside, and within a few verses or pages, he will speak to you about it, if you are listening. I have lots of experience in this one, and I am usually miserable reading his Word as long as I hold a lie inside and don’t make it right.

Why is lying so prevalent today?
We lie so we don’t hurt someone’s feelings. We lie to protect ourselves. We lie to make ourselves or others look better. We lie to make others look worse. We lie to get better grades. We lie to get or keep our jobs. We lie to manipulate others for our advantage. We even lie to each other and to ourselves, denying the truth about serious medical conditions, and when reality cannot be denied, we face the consequences unprepared and even surprised. The same is true in many churches – they lie about the Gospel, watering down the message to something more acceptable to folks today, hoping they will feel good about the church and will not think them to be old-fashioned or intolerant. And in many cases, that deceptive gospel will not save them through faith in the power and blood of Jesus Christ, with a life changed and yielded to the Lord, but will send them to hell. How tragic! We need to read the Bible for ourselves and check out Jesus for ourselves and not trust all the flashy preachers and big shows that misrepresent the truth.

The truth is shocking
People today are surprised – even shocked when you tell the truth. Some thank you like you’ve done some rare, noble deed, while others think you’re crazy. After all, if lying supposedly provides you some advantage, why would you throw that away? Lying is a way of life today, but it is not God’s way. Satan is the “father of lies”, but Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. Satan is about darkness and cover-ups. Jesus is about light and truth. The trouble is, most of us don’t want the light of truth shining too brightly on our lives, exposing our thoughts, intentions and secrets.

Ephesians 4:15
Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.[1]

This verse instructs us to speak the truth in love. There are three parts to this – speak, truth, and love. Let’s take a look at each to see how they all are necessary.

Speak
When there is a need, we need to speak rather than ignore it. If you don’t speak, nothing changes. If someone is going in the wrong direction, they will continue, perhaps to their harm or the harm of others. If someone’s language use is offensive, they may not know it and will continue if no one tells them. Speaking gives the opportunity for change; silence does not, and may imply agreement. Most of us would rather not say anything rather than take the chance of being rejected, so we end up placing a higher value on ourselves than on the person who might benefit from what we say.

Sometimes we just need someone to get our attention and ask us to stop something, and that will make all the difference in the very direction of our lives. How many of our friends and family members don’t say anything when our lives are out of control and we are falling down a black hole, but then will question us when we “get religion”? At the risk of being rejected, we need to love others enough to stop and speak to them before they hit the black hole and start the free-fall.

Similarly, we don’t share the Gospel of Jesus Christ because don’t want to speak up and be rejected or mocked. And our silence tells them we don’t have the answers either and the consequences can be catastrophic.

Truth
The second part of this verse is speaking the truth. There’s really no point in speaking if we don’t tell the truth to the other person. If I have something wrong, I need the doctor to tell me the truth about it so I can take appropriate action. If I have cancer, but he doesn’t say anything and treats me for something else instead because nobody wants to upset me, I will still have cancer and it will likely continue to get worse untreated. If I am driving and I’m upset about something and end up speeding, and a passenger doesn’t tell me the truth about what I’m doing, we could both end up in an accident and hurt or kill others as well as ourselves. If I have an offensive habit and no one tells me the truth about it, but they just avoid me because of it, I may never learn what I am doing wrong and correct it, and may wonder what is wrong with me that no one wants to hang around.

Love
The third part of this verse, which is just as important as the others, is love. We need to speak, we need to speak the truth, and we need to speak the truth in love. Some truths we need to hear we can accept casually from our friends. Other truths need to be addressed carefully and lovingly. The truth can set us free, for sure, but it can also hurt deeply sometimes. How do you tell someone they just lost a loved one? Speak the truth in love.

We all know someone who just speaks their mind bluntly. There is a certain pride that can go with that sort of approach, but there is usually also a trail of damage. That is not how God intends for us to treat each other, especially in the body of Christ.

The truth is, when you tell the truth, even in love, there is no guarantee it will go well. Big tough men sometimes act like children when approached with unwelcome truths, but that should not be a reason to lie or to say nothing. Certainly, we should use good judgment when there might be dangerous situations. But only the truth will bring about change, and presented in love every time it will soften the blow and make the person feel more respected and less isolated.

Put off, put on
Verse 25 tells us how we are to change from the habit of lying:

So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. [2]

We need to stop the habit of lying dead in its tracks and become truth-tellers. It’s not enough to just stop telling lies – they will only start back up again when we feel they will protect us or serve our purposes. We need to begin the habit of telling the truth, day by day, word by word, in every situation regardless of the cost or embarrassment. I’m in this process, and I’ve had to go back and apologize for not being completely truthful. Lying isn’t just telling a deliberate lie, but it is also presenting information in such a way as to deceive the other person.

We lie so easily we don’t even know it, and we need to change to people who tell the truth deliberately. We need to speak the truth in love, which will enable us to grow in every way and be more and more like Christ. We all need to get this, and that’s no lie!

[1]Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. "Text edition"--Spine. (2nd ed.) (Eph 4:15). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
[2]Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. "Text edition"--Spine. (2nd ed.) (Eph 4:25). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.

 

[Christsfreeservant]

Amen! Thank you, Rick, for sharing this.