Boundaries | Love Letters

So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. Ephesians 4:25

“Sure, I can do that.” “No, those spandex pants don’t make you look fat at all!” “Oh yes, we’ve visited many exotic places.” Lies come in many forms. They slip out of our mouths so easily we scarcely realize that what we’re saying is not true. We call them “white lies,” assuming the adjective cancels the sin. We lie because we’re afraid to hurt someone’s feelings, so we justify those. Then we lie to make ourselves appear a little smarter, more educated, wealthier, or more exciting, and we excuse those because they “don’t hurt anybody.” But sin is not defined by whether it hurts somebody. Sin is defined by the character of God.

Lying quickly becomes second nature unless we make a conscious effort to speak only truth. We have to be willing to let God convict us every time a shaded fact slips from our mouths. There is a good way to teach ourselves to speak only truth. If every time we lie, we must instantly confess it to the person we lied to, our lying lips learn very quickly. Apologizing, calling someone back to say, “Hey, wait a minute. I just lied to you,” is so humiliating that we don’t want to repeat it. Lying can be cured almost overnight if we are willing to agree with God about how bad it is. He hates lying. HATES it so much that lying gets two slots on God’s Most Hated Sins List (Prov. 6:16-19). We owe God the truth. And we owe the truth to everyone else, because He’s listening.

Final Thought:  How truthful are you? God wants us to speak the truth in love and let Him deal with the results.

Prayer: Father, I’ve had a problem with shading or exaggerating the truth. I justify it because it doesn’t seem like a big deal. But I don’t get to decide which sins are a big deal. You say lying is, so I confess it now and purpose to change. Amen.