Telling the truth seems simple on the surface, but it is an incredibly complex idea. Let’s use children as an example, and most of you probably know where I am heading with this. Telling the truth is a construct we often teach our kids and encourage them to do often. We revere people that tell the truth and a level of respect is gained from people that tell the truth. Children are often funny when it comes to telling the truth because, though it is positive to tell the truth, sometimes they do not know when it is good to refrain from speaking the truth as far as they know it to be true. One of the most embarrassing moments of being a parent happened when I was in the grocery store with my oldest son and he happened to see someone with a large birthmark on their face. My son stopped and looked as we passed and said “dad… why is their face dirty?” I quickly pushed the cart away as I was caught off guard and had no idea how to react properly to the moment. Another example is when he asks my dad why his belly is so big. My dad just laughs and says “there’s a LOT of food invested in that belly.”
To my son, that was telling truth because he didn’t know what it was and thought that it was dirt. To my son, he looked at his belly and then looked at my dad’s and just wondered why they were different. To my son that was truth because all he was doing was being an inquisitive kid and didn’t know how else to explain the birthmark except that it might be dirt. To my son it was truth because he saw something and wanted to know he was seeing and why he was seeing what he saw. This is why children often get a pass when it comes to some of the things that come out of their mouths. Adults aren’t quite allowed to do these things. We know truth when we hear it (for the most part) and we know what’s worth sharing and what’s worth withholding (for the most part). The withholding part is where we find “or at least don’t lie” in this part of the equation.
There is nothing more foolish than lying. If you think about all the times you have lied in your life, they can probably be attributed to attempting to stay out of trouble, attempt at getting a cheap laugh, attempting to brag about yourself or life experiences, attempting to make yourself appear better than you actually are. I use the words attempt or attempting because sometimes it accomplishes what you set out to complete and sometimes it absolutely back fires and you either get punked out or they simply just do not care. We see this in Acts 5 with Ananias and Sapphira. They likely perceived in their hearts what respect Barnabas was getting from selling his property and giving it to the apostles and they developed an envy for respect, so what did they do? They lied about how much of their profit from selling their property and showcased it as if it were 100% of the proceeds going to the apostles. Lying did not quite work out for them as they basically died upon confrontation over this lie.
When we lie, we know it. We feel it. Some have lied so much they believe every word they say. George Costanza would consider it a gift to be such a great liar that it is nontransferable and cannot be taught. From a Biblical Worldview, we know it is an act of rebellion against God and seen throughout scripture. Ephesians 4, John 8, Proverbs 6, and even The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 The Lord addresses how awful lying is. You would think it would go without saying that we shouldn’t lie and people just wouldn’t do it anymore, but no one is openly talking about how ridiculous it is. It never does anyone any good and often does you more harm than you thought.
To tell the truth is to be straight forward and to not tell a lie is to keep yourself from falsehood or straight up dishonesty, so what is the point of “tell the truth… or at least don’t lie?”
For me it means that tell the truth when words are necessary or sought, and if you feel inclined to utter a statement that’s 95% true and 5% false, you would probably be better off not telling anyone anything. When we are inclined to speak something that isn’t entirely beneficial in truth, then why would we go any further than the thought that was conceived in our head? Why would we go forth with the folly of telling someone something for the sake of personal gain? Is it truly personal gain if it’s not true about you? If you’re telling something that isn’t exactly true that is perceived in your mind to make people think more highly of you, then they aren’t thinking more highly of you… they’re thinking more highly of your self-imposed idea of you, which isn’t truly you at all. How exhausting is that? I can barely keep up with all the madness that makes me who I am in reality much less keeping up with all of the things I have made up about myself.
Also, this means you can’t just go around giving people false assurance or flattering words if you don’t mean them. Think of how tragic that would be to someone if they found out you were just tickling their ear in order for you to just gain some sense of approval from someone, or worse than that, you’ve gained a complex that falsely tells you how much you are needed or how helpful you are to people based on your ability to use words to make people feel better when you don’t mean a word of it. This is no different than the account in Acts 5 if you think about it. Ananias and Sapphira wanted the approval of man so they did something in hopes of making people feel like they care and come to find out they were really only in it for the approval that came from their “gift” they were giving. Lying has never been about anyone else except the one committing the sin of lying. If you told someone how good they looked all the time just to make them feel better and it never went farther than words or in some random chance that you would be put under pressure to tell the truth about how you feel about this person, what would that do to them emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually? We have to be careful about this and it is why I believe this is a solid rule to live by, especially for the Christian.
As a Christian, we have experienced the truth of The Gospel of Jesus and are to be ambassadors for The Lord, which means we are to be honest and truthful and to able to put off falsehood and lies and put on trustworthiness. If we are so flippant with common every day conversations with people that we are fabricating our entire existence just to be liked or promoted socially or occupationally or whatever, then we run the risk of tarnishing our testimony of absolute truth that comes from God. When you get to the end of this life, would it be worth looking God face to face and say “it was just a white lie?” Would it be worth living knowing you proclaim Christ as truth but it’s so easy telling black truths?
Tell the truth… or at least don’t lie.
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” Proverbs 27:6
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