“In All…Honesty”
“You shall not
lie.” Exodus 20:16
I read in a survey
that, “15 percent of women tinted their hair, 38 percent wore a wig, 80 percent
wore rouge, 98 percent wore eye shadow, 22 percent wore false eyelashes, and 93
percent wore nail polish. And 100 percent voted in favor of a resolution
condemning any kind of false packaging.”
Lying seems to be a
way of life for many people and truth is becoming more obsolete. While our personal cosmetics isn’t such a big
issue, our representation of truth in other areas is. We lie at the drop of a hat. In the book,
The Day America Told the Truth, of the many people surveyed, the authors
found these results that were quite revealing.
91% lie about trivial matters, 36% lie about important matters, 86%
regularly lie to parents, 75% regularly lie to friends, 73% regularly lie to
siblings, and 69% regularly lie to spouses.
James Emery White
added this idea in a book, You Can Experience an Authentic Life, cites
these statistics: 91% of all Americans confessed that they regularly lied, 79%
had given out false phone numbers or invented new identities when meeting strangers on airplanes,
and 20% said they couldn’t get through
even one day without going along with a previously manufactured lie.
Now here’s what I
found most intriguing. People no longer seem to care about lying. We accept
it. It doesn’t bother us. We don’t get upset anymore when someone exaggerates,
falsifies, fabricates, or misrepresents the truth. We live in a day when we’ve
been bombarded with erased tapes, tampered evidence, illicit cover-ups, padded
resumes, and exaggerated ads, to the point that we’ve pretty much given up on
truth being a viable enterprise. Lies are all around us.
Studies have found
that in the past, people thought lying was wrong…now, almost half of all
Americans say it isn’t. We have grown to accept it. Spouses lie to one another in the name of
keeping the peace, parents lie to their own children and vice versa, employers
and employees just the same. Added to that, advertisers and businesses lie to
sell products and politicians lie in order to spin things their way.
While our world has
gone one way, God’s Word continues to state another. God says, “You
shall not lie.” (Exodus 20:16) He is saying, “If you are my people then you
character should agree with mine.” You should be people of honesty and
integrity. Superman claimed that he did his Superhero-thing for the sake of
“Truth, Justice and the American Way...”The
question is, are truth and justice still a part of the American
Way?” We know they have always been part of God’s
way.
.
.
People’s standards of
truth continue to change. A separate
poll of 25,000 high schoolers found that nearly half agreed with the statement,
“A person has to lie or cheat sometimes in order to succeed” which was stated
in Culture Clips.
Because all honesty
honors Christ, being truthful makes our Jesus look good before a watching
world. When we, as followers of Christ, are honest in all our dealings, it
reflects well on Christ and all of His followers...but when we are dishonest, we bring dishonor to
Christ and His church. You’ve heard statements like, “I’ll never come to your
church because so-and-so is a member there. He’s a hypocrite. He cheated me in
business or he promised me something and didn’t follow through.” Now, that
church member’s behavior reflected poorly on the church. But worse than
that, it kept some from trusting Christ as their Savior, for as they said, “If
that’s what Christianity is all about, I get better treatment from my drinking
buddies at the bar.” The way we do
business, or the way we interact with people in this community, reflects
positively or negatively on Christ and His church. We can’t be a “good
Christian” on Sunday, and be dishonest in our dealings with people Monday through
Friday. It just doesn’t work. Our Christianity has to follow us throughout the
week; otherwise it is no Christianity at all, and it discredits everything
we’re trying to do. It discredits our message that Jesus Christ is worth living
for. However, truth builds trust and the blessings that follow in marriages,
businesses, relationships, and leadership.
Ten years ago, golfer
Chelsee Richard, of Bloomingdale
High School in Brandon, Florida, lost her chance to win the 2004 state championship—by being honest.
In the qualifier for the state finals, Chelsee hit her tee shot on the second
hole into the rough. Without knowing it, she played another golfer’s ball out
of the rough and finished the hole. On the third hole, she realized what she
had done. The rule is that a golfer must declare the wrong ball penalty before
putting on the hole where the infraction
occurred, or be disqualified. Drawing strength from her favorite Bible verse, Philippians
4:13, Chelsee reported her error and
experienced a painful ending to her senior season and her dream of going to State.
She later said: “With my faith and with God, being honest was the most
important thing to me, and that’s what is going to advance on throughout my
life, being honest and making the right choices.” That young lady not only did
herself a favor in the long run, her honesty spoke very well of her Christian
faith and the Lord she serves.
Integrity and honesty
are not always the easy way, but they are the life that Christ rewards. While it may cost us on occasion on the
outside, God helps shape us into His people on the inside. As Robert Frost said, “It’s the road less
traveled” but the one most rewarded.
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1) Why is lying so easy to fall
into?
2) How does telling the truth
help release anxiety in our lives?
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
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