By Not Known
“We’re not going to buy this set of furniture this month, my husband wants to wait…” and then you see them sitting on that set of furniture from that other dealer across the road.
“I’m just not interested…” and then you see him signed up with another salesman from the same company.
“I don’t think that’s something we would like to do…” and then you meet them on the same trail that they said they wouldn’t go on.
People lie most of the time. We do it because somehow, salespeople, especially, have trained us to, and because we just do not want to offend people for the choices we make. We are afraid that we will be judged for making the wrong decision as most salespeople tend to tell you when you say ‘No’ to them.
In telling the truth, we are made to look discredited. In most cases, when we do tell the truth, we are also often made to feel dumb or made to carry much more responsibilities than we would be prepared to.
“I don’t have time to be involved in ministry” and then you find him doing things that obviously indicates that he doesn’t know how to spend his time. Well, sometimes, it is a matter of priorities and each is entitled to their own way of ordering them.
However, telling lies to cover ourselves isn’t just the right thing to do when we want to honour God. Especially so when evil lies are said to hurt or to discredit others. Both Isaiah 59 and Psalm 59 share similar theme around the idea of wicked tongue. James devotes about 20% of his letter around the same theme.
So why do we decide to lie? It is no doubt based on what we believe to be true yet we say something untrue so as to make ourselves look good, or to make others look bad which in turn make ourselves look better than them. So when you are really wrong but you believe you are right, then lying extends the wrong further. The challenge is, before you decide to say something untrue, check again. It is acceptable to make mistakes or even to be laughed at, so long as you learn from them and make them right the next time. The more we perpetuate falsehood, the wider we need to expand the lies in order to cover ourselves.
When evil intents are included, they hurt not just ourselves but a wider group of people, even people you love and who love you. This is why confessions and forgiveness are so much a part of our right relationship with God and with people