Your Daily Devotional for August 25, 2007

 

August 25,  2007

 

 

Rejecting the Truth

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

"The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy. There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief. Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight."

 

Proverbs 12:19-22

 

 

Two ardent fishermen met on their vacation and began swapping stories about the different places where they had fished—the kind of tackle they had used, the best bait, and, finally about some of the fish they had caught. One of them told of a vicious battle he once had with a three-hundred-pound salmon. The other man listened attentively. He frankly admitted he had never caught anything quite that big.

 

However, he told about the time his hook snagged a lantern from the depths of a lake. The lantern carried a tag proving it was lost back in 1912. But the strangest thing of all was the fact that it was a waterproof lantern and the light was still lit. For a long time the first man said nothing. Then he took one long, deep breath. "I'll tell you what I'll do," he said slowly. "I'll take two hundred pounds off my fish, if you'll put out the light in your lantern."

 

As we learned yesterday, not many people value the truth anymore. It seems as if people will stretch the truth or lie over any little thing! But God has commanded us not to bear false witness. We must avoid all lying, especially in four areas.

 

First, we must avoid lying for revenge. If someone wrongs us, it can sometimes be easy for us to lie to discredit their name. We may not purposefully intend to lie, but, just by saying something against them, we are lying about their character and testimony. Just because someone wrongs us does not mean we should ruin their testimony with others. God tells us to go to that person and settle our differences. We must be careful not to bear false witness about someone in revenge.

 

Second, we must avoid lying for personal gain. While the world often promotes people who profit from lying, we must see lying as God sees it—as sin. God does not make provisions for lying. He views all lying as sin. We must be careful to not overlook lying but to take it seriously.

 

Third, we must not lie to escape punishment. Many times children lie to escape punishment, but we can be guilty of this as well. While we may not come right out and lie, we may stretch the truth to make it seem as if we were right. While punishment is not pleasant, we must tell the truth even when we are wrong.

 

Last, we must not lie to impress people. Many people tell "tall tales" or "fish stories" in order to impress someone else, but this is lying! We must not lie to make ourselves look good or to impress people. It can be easy to slip sometimes and tell a "little white lie," but God calls it all sin. We must be so careful to avoid even the smallest lies.

 

Do you ever find yourself lying without realizing it? Because our society has renamed lying, we can often be guilty of lying without knowing it. We must make sure that we are preserving truth and being honest in all we do. Ask God now to help you see lying as a sin and to avoid it. Purpose today to avoid all forms of lying and to glorify God by telling the truth.

 

 

Daily Bible Reading

Psalm 119:1-88 • 1 Corinthians 7:20-40

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