"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." (Exodus 20:16)
"Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices." (Colossians 3:9)
God hates falsehood, lies, and lying. What we say and how we say reflect our hearts and character. They reveal our honesty, integrity, and trustworthiness or lack thereof. If you truly love God, you will love truth and abhor lies. If you love your neighbors as yourselves, you will speak truthfully to them. As a new creation in Christ, you and I are to lay aside every form of falsehood, lies, dishonesty, and deception (including white lies, cover-up lies, half-truth, exaggeration, embellishment, empty promises, pretense, cheating on your income tax forms, keeping silent when others assume something about you that's not true but you'd like them to think so about you, keeping silent when the clerk at the store or restaurant makes a mistake to your advantage, etc.) When we speak truth, we're like our Heavenly Father, but when we speak lies, we're like Satan, Father of lies.
I used to lie and did not feel bad about it; I justified that I didn't hurt anybody. But after I completely surrendered my life to Christ and resolved to live for Him, not self, I can no longer lie and I never want to lie. I also feel convicted by the Holy Spirit immediately if I begin to embellish the truth. How serious is lying? Take a look at these Scriptures. "Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood/lying." (Revelation 22:15) "You destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful You, Lord, detest." (Psalm 5:6)
Here Paul speaks of the members of the spiritual body of Christ. It's bad enough when non-Christians lie to us but it hurts even more when a brother or sister in Christ lies to us. Lying destroys testimony and credibility. Lying destroys trust and relationship. Let us be truthful to one another; we're members of one body. “Let not the eye lie to the foot, nor the foot to the eye. If there be a deep pit, and its mouth covered with reeds shall present to the eye the appearance of solid ground, will not the eye use the foot to ascertain whether it is hollow underneath, or whether it is firm and resists? Will the foot tell a lie, and not the truth as it is? And what again if the eye were to spy a serpent or a wild beast, will it lie to the foot?” (Chrysostom)
“It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. It is not LOVE and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God...It’s better to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with a multitude.” (Adrian Rogers) If you see a brother or sister in Christ living in sin or believing in false teaching but you don't say anything to him/her or don't try to turn them from the error of their way, that's not love. Pray for them and pray for God's wisdom and guidance to show you how to bring them back. Speak the truth in love and with grace, respect, and gentleness but by all means, speak God's truth! Don't ever sacrifice the truth on the altar of "grace", "peace", political correctness, or fear of being labeled "judgmental" or narrow-minded or preachy. Don't ever minimize the seriousness of sin (our need for repentance). If you truly love them, you'll care about their spiritual well-being/the condition of their soul and you'll do all you can to rescue them.
Prayer: "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." (Psalm 19:14) May Your truth and love govern my attitudes, speech, and conduct always!
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