Lies

I've been thinking recently about lies. Perhaps we don't think about it, but they are an everyday occurrence in our American culture. Have you looked at any kind of advertising lately? Claims by some local business to be the "best in the world" or other such statement are almost always false.  A department store recently had their "best sale ever." I doubt they had fact checkers look back through all records of all previous sales the store had run to make sure they could say that with accuracy.

There are also the more malicious ones. I get calls from "Microsoft Technical Support" about bad "viruses" on my computer. Somewhat related to those is robocalling and caller ID spoofing. That's where a computer calls but appears to call from a local number in your area to get you to pick up. Lying about your location doesn't encourage me to do business with you.

The problem is, these are the easy ones to see. What about the harder ones? Those are our own.

What about the time you said you would do something, with no intention of follow through? Or shaded the truth to frame a situation so you were in the best light? How about making excuses that may not be a full explanation of what happened? Blameshifting? I'm sure we can think of other ways we have lied and various lies we have told.

I encourage you to not be deceived by lies, but also to not deceive yourself. Don't think you are free of the temptation to lie. Jesus said that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Like him, we must pursue truth, even if it seems to cause us harm. Integrity and sanctification are worth it. That's one part of the temptation to lie; thinking the immediate benefit of the lie outweighs maintaining integrity. Beware, as integrity is hard to gain but quick to lose.