- There is no such thing as a ‘little white’ lie. A lie is never meaningless or trivial. And saying that it is ‘little’ ‘white’ makes no difference – a lie is a lie.
- Everyone lies. And if they say they’ve never lied… they’re lying. [1 John 1:8-10]
However, this is also an area that we humans can control. What I find perplexing is that so often we don’t recognize a lie? Why is that??? And… why do WE lie?
Actually, lying is mentioned many times in scripture and in the 10 Commandments.
Exodus 20:16
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Plus:
Ephesians 4:25
“Therefore, rejecting all falsehood [whether lying, defrauding, telling half-truths, spreading rumors, any such as these], speak truth each one with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one another [and we are all parts of the body of Christ].”
Colossians 3:9
“Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.”
Psalm 101:7
“No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.”
There are over 75 scriptures that talk about lying… I just indicated 4 but the consequences of lying are certainly evident.
And yet…
The reasons we lie are basically self-preservation (real and imaginary). And when it glibly trips off our tongue, it also indicates that this must be one of our default practices. Still the question… why? Especially since so often we are caught in the lie. I’ve also discovered that I can control this. When it’s an issue of truth – there really isn’t any other option.
Psalm 145:18 ESV
“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”
2 Timothy 2:15 ESV
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
Proverbs 12:22 ESV
“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.”
1 John 3:18
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
Scripture is fairly plain in terms of how the Lord views truth. Remember too that the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of truth and Jesus says that He will guide us into all truth. Truth and Lies are diametrically opposed. You have to put lies from you… no one else can.
Sooo… if you catch yourself heading to a default (lie) – stop yourself, even in mid sentence. You really don’t need to lie in the first place. A ‘no’ isn’t a rejection of the other person (even when you really don’t have a good ‘reason’) – you are saying ‘no’ to (fill in the blank) at this moment in time.
However, many times our own antenna isn’t on and we fall for the devil’s lies. For me, this is the most frustrating since most of the time it’s only a revisit by the devil to a former time when it did work. We gave the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and as such the devil’s work is to present his lies and see if we ‘bite’. The only way he knows he is successful is when we act on them. Think about that for a moment. The devil DOES NOT control our minds. Remember too the admonition:
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit [speaking through a self-proclaimed prophet]; instead test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets and teachers have gone out into the world. By this you know and recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ has [actually] come in the flesh [as a man] is from God [God is its source]; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus [acknowledging that He has come in the flesh, but would deny any of the Son’s true nature] is not of God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and is now already in the world.” [1 John 4:1-3]
We have our method (test) and our knowledge of truth (question the spirit).We can stop falling for lies with this simple test. We have absolutely all that we need to not buy into lies. And we have the reminder that WE should not lie.
