“Worry about your own fortunes, gentlemen. The deepest circle of hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers.”—Captain Jack Sparrow
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices (Colossians 3:9 NIV).
Anyone who knows me, knows that the one thing I really hate is being lied to. In my eyes, liars are pretenders. If they cannot be honest, why bother even talking?
There are obvious lies and there are subtle lies. Nine times out of ten, I can see through the lies people tell me. When strangers lie to me, it angers me, and then I feel pity for them. But when one of my children lies to me, it hurts me, and then I pity myself. Why myself? Because I feel like I’ve failed in my duty as a parent.
But of course, God doesn’t let me pity myself for long. He gently chastises me and reminds me that as a parent, I can raise my children only so far. At some point, they need to raise themselves. I didn’t put the lies in their mouths; they chose to do that themselves.
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies (Psalm 34:13 NIV).
I’ve known some people who have lied so much that it is hard for them to tell the truth. It is easier for them to make something up than to be honest. It actually becomes a sickness for them. I’ve come to the point where I don’t even listen to them when they talk, because I know that nothing they are saying is the truth. But that isn’t how we are to deal with people who lie. We are to pray for them, to ask the Lord to show them what their lies are doing. And we are not to let our own tongues get in the way.
A psalm of David:
I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence” (Psalm 39:1 NIV).
None of us is perfect; we all tell a lie now and then. What we need to realize is that when we do lie, we are not only hurting those we lie to, but we are also hurting God. Just like it hurts me when I hear my children lie, we hurt our Father in heaven when He hears us lying. So we need to make a conscience effort to not lie to one another.
Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment (Proverbs 12:19 NIV).
Debbie Mitchell