Everything you do reflects who you are. This is the reason my husband and I decided when we became Christians not to lie to our children about Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy or anything else. We thought, if we teach our children a lie, when they figure out the truth what will be their compass to discern in the future. If you believe a lie so completely it becomes your reality, what does your world look like when that lie is revealed? Can you ever truly trust those who convinced you such a lie was real to ever tell you the real truth again. How can they be sure that what you believe about Jesus is true, when the world says is Jesus is a lie, a myth?
When my daughter was small and in the hospital, she required a lot of medical tests. Scared, she looked at the nurse with the needles and turned to me, asking, "Mama, is it going to hurt?" The nurse interrupting said, "No." But I looked straight at my daughter and said, "Yes it will hurt, but only for a moment, and we are going to count together and in under 100 it will be over. You can squeeze my hand while we count. I won't leave you." The nurse was angry with me and asked why I would cause my daughter to be afraid before she had to be. I said to the nurse, "if I lie to my daughter to bring her comfort and you stick that needle in her arm, she will find out herself how much it hurts. Why should she ever trust me to tell her the truth and protect her from pain in the future? Why should she ever trust another nurse or doctor to tell her the truth? Telling her the whole truth is better upfront. It will hurt, but for less than a minute, and my daughter knows I will be here with her, counting through the pain with her. She will be okay and the pain will stop soon." Expecting comfort and receiving pain is the ultimate result of every lie. It's easy to get caught up with the world in lies. It's easy to think that when you are lying you are helping somehow, but you are not. Standing for the truth in the midst of a lying world is so difficult, but extremely necessary. Once you are anchored in the God's truth, you can interact with the world without becoming part of it. You can influence and bring change for good, without being corrupted. You must be willing to walk through this life in truth in all the things you say with the people you meet. If we ever surrender standing for the truth, we are letting down the people around us, especially those searching for and needing God. There have been moments in the bible and in history where people have protected the innocent from being murdered and brutalized by hiding them and lying to evil men to protect them. While it seems understandable and probably under those instances many Christians would repeat this behavior, the majority of our lives aren't as complicated. Most people lies willingly, without any threat against a human life. They give into little white lies to avoid uncomfortable topics or avoid arguments. But these things should not be. We cannot bend the truth, tell part of the truth while misleading with part of a lie, or omit the truth for sake of convenience. Someone out there is desperately needing to hear the truth. Someone is desperate for a person who will not lie to them, a person they can utterly depend on so they can believe the words and find salvation. The price we pay for dishonesty is our entire witness becomes tainted. This is too high of a price for any Christian, especially when we are to be children of Truth, born by the Spirit of Truth. When you cannot be trusted with telling the truth in the simple things in life, how can you be relied upon for the truth of eternal salvation? The Truth is of the utmost importance. Never be willing to sacrifice it, for it is who you are called to be.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever even the Spirit of truth;
whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:16-17
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Sharon Aubrey
An Alaskan Author, Prospector, Homeschool Teacher, Ordained Minister, I welcome your comments! Before you post, please see my
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