“Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence,
but a false witness utters deceit.
There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Truthful lips endure forever,
but a lying tongue is but for a moment.“
What’s the harm in a little white lie?
We’ve all be tempted to do it, whether it’s exaggerating the truth, withholding some of the truth, or telling and out and out lie. Maybe the temptation is to make yourself look better, keep from getting in trouble, or sometimes we are even trying to protect the other person.
We can usually find a reason to justify it.
I had a high school friend I visited shortly after college. As we were driving around town one day, she said she needed to do go by a doctor’s office but asked me not to say anything to her roommate. She had to go pretty regularly, but had told her roommate she was doing something else. She said it was an innocent lie because she didn’t want them to worry. We’re really good at justifying our actions.
But Proverbs places tremendous value on truth. It tells us that truthful words endure, while lies last only for a moment.
That’s because lies have a way of requiring more lies. Once we’ve said something that isn’t true, we have to remember what we said, who we said it to, and what else we need to say to keep the story intact. As the old poem says, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” Eventually, we can’t keep up and the truth comes out.
The truth doesn’t require that kind of maintenance. It simply stands.
Yet speaking truthfully involves more than avoiding outright lies. We can deceive through half-truths, selective details, or carefully chosen words that technically aren’t false but are intended to give someone the wrong impression.
God cares about the truth because He is a God of truth. He doesn’t deceive us or manipulate us. His promises can be trusted completely. Whether it’s hard truths, like we are all sinners deserving condemnation, or wonderful truths, like our sins are forgiven, we don’t have to wonder whether there’s fine print somewhere.
His Word stands.
As people who belong to Him, we’re called to reflect that truthfulness in our own lives, whether we are at home, at work, in our friendships, and even in the stories we tell about people who aren’t there to defend themselves.
Of course, truth can also be used badly.
“I was just being honest” can become an excuse for saying something unnecessarily cruel. Biblical truthfulness isn’t permission to say every true thing that crosses our minds. Wisdom considers both what we say and how we say it. We are to speak the truth in love.
Sometimes love requires us to speak a difficult truth. Sometimes wisdom tells us to remain silent. But when we do speak, people should be able to trust that our words are true.
That brings up something else important. The command to speak the truth doesn’t mean you have to share everything. There are times when you can keep things private and times when you need to hold something in confidence.
For example, as a pastor, I took an oath not to reveal people’s confessions. For me to share what someone told me in as a confession would both destroy trust and violate my oath.
When we fail to tell the truth, as we all do, the answer isn’t another carefully constructed explanation. It’s confession.
“I wasn’t honest. I’m sorry.”
There is freedom in that kind of truthfulness because we don’t need to protect an image of ourselves before God or anyone else. It lifts a great burden. We can also bring it to Jesus. Christ already knows the truth about us, including the parts we’d rather hide, and He went to the cross for us anyway.
Because we are secure in His grace, we are free to tell the truth.
Let’s pray…
Heavenly Father,
You are faithful and true in everything You say. Forgive me for the times I have lied, exaggerated, hidden the truth to deceive, or used truthful words in an unloving way. Give me wisdom to know when to speak and how to speak with both honesty and love. When I fail, give me humility to confess it rather than trying to protect myself. Thank You that I don’t have to hide from You, because in Jesus I am fully known, fully forgiven, and deeply loved.
Amen.
As part of your devotion time, I encourage you to also pray for at least some of the following:
After praying for these people, you may want to finish your devotion time with the Lord’s Prayer…
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and every. Amen.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
