Proverbs 14:25
With
the abundance of crime shows, both those portraying the crime in glorious
detail and those dramatizing the solving of them, we know the value of a good
witness to a crime. Solving the case can hinge on the availability and reliability
of the witnesses. And in the case of serial criminals, lives may be at stake.
We
want our children to tell us the truth when we ask them, “Did you do this?” And
yet the sinful nature raises its ugly head even in three year olds. And when we
can’t trust the answer, we begin to doubt every communication. Can we trust
anything being said?
When
we talk to kids about lying we often tell the story of about the little boy who
cried “Wolf” one too many times. When the wolf actually came, no one believed
him and he was eaten! The moral is that we shouldn’t lie about danger. And yet
how many of us should be eaten by the wolf? We get in a crisis and call in the cavalry.
But if we have too many crises, how can we expect people to know when a real
crisis arrives?
Once
someone lies to me I put a filter between myself and that person. I question
what they say in every circumstance. The more they lie, the stronger the
filter. And what really gets me is when they lie to try to manipulate me or the
circumstances. When they purposefully hide the truth, that gets me really mad.
This
could be why lawyers have such a bad reputation. They often tell only part of
the truth in order to win a case. Truth is black and white. Truth doesn’t come
in shades of grey. So when we try to tell “little white lies” we are really
telling horribly black lies.
Ouch!
That was very insensitive, wasn’t it! Our proverb tells us that lives are at
stake. We need to tell the truth.