Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man the truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.–Ephesians 4:25
We often wonder what is hindering God’s working in the church, when the truth is that we need not look any further than the end of our nose–no, better yet, let’s change that to–the tip of our tongue! We are quick to point out how the sin of drunkenness, adultery, etc. robs us of blessings, but seldom do we attribute it to our own dishonesty. We are quick to lay the blame on someone else’s doorstep without giving a thought to the possibility that we might be the problem. Even when we know we’ve lied we don’t associate it with anything so serious as hindering the church.
If you know anything about God you know that He is holy and He hates falsehood. Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.(Proverbs 12:22). Yet the average church member doesn’t think twice about distorting the truth. It happens in regards to the committment they make in baptism, the church covenant, and statements made concerning their intentions. Then we wonder what is holding back the blessings of God. How dumb is that? We laugh at the “dumb blonde” jokes, but nothing is dumber than this. The worst “dumb blonde” is a genusis compared to the person who can’t see why God isn’t blessing, when the evidence is right on the tip of their tongue. We need to stop pretending that we don’t know what the problem is. We cannot ignore sin and expect God to bless. If you really can’t identify the problem ask God for help–He isn’t trying to hide it.
Lying is a characteristic of lost people (Rev. 21:8). When we lie we leave our testimony in shambles, grieve the Holy Spirit, rob ourselves of a good conscience, and keep God from pouring out His blessings. We even jeopardize our lives (Acts 5:1-11). It is shameful when church members lie to get what they want and then fail to keep their word. God never takes it lightly. Those who distort the truth to get what they desire end up losing what they’ve got.
You can call it a “little white lie”, or “a fib”, or “just doing business”, or “mere exaggeration”, but when you fail to keep your word it is a lie, a sin. God hates it and God will handle it–He never ignores it! Regardless of how polite or innocent it may seem, no lie ever goes unnoticed or without consequences. If we are wise we will heed Solomon’s warning in Ecclesiastes 5:4-6 “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?”. So how is it with you? Is God delighted or disgusted with your words? Lie now and cry later!
