After Reader's Digest nominated the actor Tom Hanks as "the most trusted man in the world" (in 2013), on the Late Show David Letterman asked Hanks what he's done to become so trustworthy. Hanks explained:
What do I do exactly to earn this trust? I'm honest because I tell people I'm lying to them. Because I'm in show business … somebody will send me a project and there is no way in [heck] I'm going to do it because it stinks and it's lousy and I don't want to do it. But I will say, "Doug, I'm lying to you right now, but I love this thing so much, I want to do it, but I can't because I have to publicize a movie in Japan. By the way Doug, I'm lying to you. The things I just said are lies, but don't you feel better?"
But then when I'm supposed to be in Japan to promote my new movie I turn up in the crowd at a [hockey] game and it kind of blows it. But then I tell him, "But, dude, I opened the conversation by saying, 'I'm lying to you.'"
Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Speaking the Truth in Love—shows the need to lovingly confront other people with the truth; (2) God's Word; God's Truth—this quote can also illustrate that God doesn't lie to us in order to make us feel good; he speaks the truth that sets us free.
