The Truth about Deceit
Theme of the Week: Stick to Shooting Straight
Thursday, August 27, 2009
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: "All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed" (John 3:20). Bonus Reading: Jeremiah 9:3-9
Why do we so often not tell the truth? Many times it's because we're unwilling to face the consequences of the truth. Most lies are pitiful efforts to protect our pride. We lie because we fear being shamed or embarrassed. Our fragile reputations and even more fragile egos must be protected at all costs. And so, pitifully and too cheaply, we sell out the truth.
Sometimes we lie because we've already done wrong. We've slipped into the darkness rather than remaining in the light, and we don't wish our deeds to be exposed. So our lies are cover-ups for our sins and often only delay and worsen the day of their exposure.
At times we lie because we believe it's justified to accomplish our urgent goals. This happens every day in politics and commerce. We've grown accustomed to it. But sometimes it happens in Christian activism and church life as well. We want to win "by any means necessary."
Or perhaps we deceive by holding back the whole truth. So when your wife asks, "Did you view pornography this afternoon?" you say, "No, I didn't." Your statement is technically true, but you used pornography the night before, and that, as you well know, is what her question was intended to discover.
—David Gushee in Christianity Today
My Response: A rationalization for deception that I must renounce is …
Thought to Apply: Some people live their whole lives just around the corner from the world of truth. —Carl Henry
Adapted from our sister publication Christianity Today (3/06) by permission.
Copyright © 2009 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integritymagazine.
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May your truth so live in me, Lord, that every form of deceit is wrung out of my life.
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