Truthful lips will be established forever,
but a lying tongue is only for a moment.

Proverbs 12:19

If you’ve ever played the lying game, which I have (not bragging at all), you quickly find that it gets harder and harder to remember exactly what all the lies were, which ones did you tell to whom, and who isn’t supposed to be told anything. Very quickly the original lie, is truly only for a moment. The original is expanded and exaggerated or it is sliced and diced and patched back together depending on who is being told the next version of the original lie. 

And, as we see all too well in today’s age of instant news, the original lie and all its variations are soon floating all over cyberspace mingling with all the other lies told over and over again until there is so much noise nothing makes sense and nothing even matters. Every once in awhile there is a morsel of truth in the all that chaos, but it is overshadowed by all the moments of lies.

And…yet…

But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.

Numbers 32:23

America’s sin of constant lying, whether known as stretching the truth or little white lies or for your own good kind of lies; is coming back to haunt. Is any institution trusted by a majority of Americans anymore? Politics, banking, retail, auto and home sales, insurance, health care, education and even sports at all levels, are all suspect when it comes to be trusted by the general public. American culture has sunk so low that people don’t bother looking for truth anymore, they simply look for which institution lies the least! 

That is why it is so abundantly refreshing when a person or an institution actually speaks the truth and does so on a regular basis. It is rare these days, but it does happen and people are drawn to the trustworthy person or the institution that doesn’t spin lies about everything. 

The Church…Us…Disciples of Jesus Christ should be leading the way on truth telling; in our homes, in our business dealings, in our communities, in our government encounters and in our churches and always on social media. What does our key verse for today promise…

Truthful lips will be established forever…!

It may seem easier to lie, to bend the truth, to fabricate just a little, but truth is powerful. It may seem expedient to defend oneself when faced with sin, but it is far better to confess our sin and be restored rather than to cover it up with a lie of denial. It may seem self-preservation is more essential in this area or that circumstance than speaking the truth, but that is the ultimate lie to yourself!

It may seem that lies rule the day, but the day does end and is gone. Truth lasts forever!

Psalm 17:1

Hear a just cause, O LORD, give heed to my cry. Give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips.

Psalm  120:2

Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.

Psalm 141:3

Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.