By GARY ANDREWS
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My daddy always told me that “if you tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said.” How true this statement is even though many people would rather lie to you than face the truth.
I remember a time when I was a teenager and one of my brothers and I was wrestling in the hallway of my parents’ home. Being from a family of one girl and five boys sometimes these little skirmishes got to be pretty rough. Most of the time we could get away with these matches, when my parents weren’t home, and they would not suspect anything, unless one of us told on the other.
This particular day we hit the wall and punched a hole in the sheet rock and there was no way we were going to tell dad that we were fighting. I made up a story and told my dad, which he didn’t really believe, and hoped that we would get away from the sure punishment that would come should he find out the truth. The problem with my younger brother, since he wasn’t in the fight, is that he told dad what happened.
The truth seems to always find its way to the top. Being in the newspaper industry for 35 years I believe I have heard about every excuse there is to keep from printing the truth. For some people lying is just second nature to them and many will tell absolute fabrications instead of the truth, even when the truth would be easier on them.
Many of today’s politicians will expand or delete important numbers concerning their campaign, especially when they are running for office. They will tell you how they have fulfilled their promises as an incumbent or tell you how they are going to fix problems if they are elected. More times than not these promises have been broken and as a challenger you have no idea of how or what you will do once you are in office. All you are doing is speaking words and telling people what you want them to know.
This goes on in businesses, schools, churches, and many other places where the truth should be spoken at all times. All of us need to remember what we are told in Proverbs 19:5; “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies will not escape.”
How very true this is. Over my years of watching people fall to the wayside, many times this has come at the expense of their own speech. Having been on the receiving end of someone lying to me has caused me great pain and anguish of what I had to do when the truth came out. For me it was not fun and for them it was devastating because they were taken out of their field of work and it caused many to suffer, not just the one speaking.
When I busted the wall in my dad’s house and I told him a lie I expected the rod of instruction would come at me hard and often. To my surprise my dad looked me straight in the eye and told me how disappointed he was that I lied to him. This hurt me more that any whipping would have because I hurt him in my lying.
Never tell anything but the truth and you will never have to remember what you said. There is always one person who knows the truth and that is Jesus and one day you will tell Him why you were untruthful, unless you confess your sins to Him before hand and ask for His forgiveness.
Prayer: Please guide me Father in a path that I will always be truthful. Let me understand that my trust in you is always sufficient and I never have to depend on my selfish ways. Amen.
(Suggested daily Bible readings: Sunday – James 3:1-18; Monday – Deuteronomy 19:15-21; Tuesday – Matthew 26:59-64; Wednesday – Psalm 5:1-12; Thursday – Mark 14:53-59; Friday – Micah 6:9-12; Saturday – Daniel 11:20-28.)
Gary Andrews is the author of Encouraging Words: 30-days in God’s Word. To obtain a copy go to his website www.gadevotionals.com.