The most famous story about lying in American history is the one about George Washington chopping down a cherry tree. When his father asked him who did it, George supposedly replied, “I cannot tell a lie; I did it with my little hatchet.” That story was in a biography written by a man named Weems in the nineteenth century. But listen… he later admitted to making the whole story up! Can you believe it? The most famous illustration in America about not lying was itself a lie! And truthfulness is still in short supply. Politicians spin promises and facts during an election year, telemarketers scam the elderly to make more in commissions, job seekers pad their resumes to gain an advantage in the competitive marketplace, repair shops shamelessly inflate their bills, college students steal essays from the internet to pass classes and spouses lie to each other about money and infidelity.
And did you know that the IRS maintains what is informally called a ‘cheater’s account,’ to which people with guilty consciences can send money they know they owe? There is a story about one letter the IRS received that read, “My conscience is bothering me because of cheating on my taxes, so I’m sending $10,000. If my conscience doesn’t clear up, I’ll send in the rest of what I owe.” Now some think that since most everybody seems to lie and cheat, it’s no big deal. Wrong! God’s Word says: in Proverbs 12:22, “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men/women who are truthful.”
Pray with me… Help us to be ‘in the moment’… living the truth, every day so it can be said of us as Jesus said of Nathanael… ‘Behold an Israelite in whom there is no deceit/no false thing.’ Lord, in this world of lies, distortions, half-truths and propaganda, we want to walk in the truth, because we know that you have no greater joy than to know that your children walk in the truth. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
Blessings,
Pastor Ken
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