Lying Lips – Devotional for Tuesday, March 1, 2011

There is a commercial on television these days that I enjoy. It shows “honest Abe” and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. She is wearing a “hooped” skirt dress and she asks her husband if it makes her look fat. After a period of embarrassing silence, Honest Abe says, “Maybe a little.” His wife is not pleased.

This is the kind of verse that gets a hearty “Amen” from most of us. Who doesn’t despise a liar? The problem is when we think of this kind of verse we are quick to apply it to others and not ourselves. Most of us are guilty of lying almost on a daily basis. Sure, most of those are not “big” lies. And some of them come out of our mouths because we don’t want to hurt others. Many times we don’t want to “confront” a bad situation so a little “white lie” seems the best alternative.

I think we just don’t consider how much harm we do when we fail to tell the truth, even when we “shade” the truth to make it more palatable. Jesus never minced words. He called things as they are. It didn’t always win Him favor of men; but, according to this verse, it delighted His father.

Maybe if we got in the habit of habitual truthfulness, folks would be less likely to ask us questions for which they really don’t want a truthful answer. Maybe that would make our lives a lot more stressful. And maybe if we developed a reputation for unwavering truth, we would be the kind of person someone can come to when they really need some truth in their lives.

Let’s abhor lying lips in ourselves and maybe 

Be blessed.

Nick