"IT'S ALL LIES"

Good morning everyone. I pray this finds each of you doing well and enjoying the blessings God continues to pour out upon us day by day. I  pray that your Thanksgiving was one filled with God, family, love, food and fun.  I want to thank each of you for your contributions, whatever they may have been, or are, to helping me get to this point in my life, and let you all know that you are very special to me. THANK YOU

"It's all lies"! Have you ever heard someone say, "it's just a little white lie"? Or, have you heard someone say, "I just told a little fib, I've never lied"? Have you ever been caught up with the word "little"? Like that is suppose to make the deed less than what it is or was, because it was "little". We all have done this and been guilty of lying. If you disagree, then I guess you have never told a child about Santa, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. Maybe you don't have kids. Ok then, have you ever seen someone who just had a haircut and you thought it looked terrible, but for the sake of their feelings you tell them how good it looks? Sure, we all have lied at some point in our lives. Honesty can be painful.

What does God think about lies? If you will read Exodus 20:16, which by-the-way is important enough to be one of the Ten Commandments, it says, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor". What does this break down to?

All of us can and should understand the beginning of this commandment, "You shall not". There is no wiggle room or gray area left to play around in. It does not say, "you should not lie, unless it is absolutely necessary". It does not say "you should not lie unless it will get you out of trouble". It does not say "you can tell a small one, if you have good intentions". It says, "You shall not". The dictionary defines the rest of the words as follows.

Bear: to transmit or spread; to render; afford; give:

False: uttering, or declaring what is untrue

Witness: to bear witness to; testify to; give or afford evidence of

Neighbor: one's fellow human being

Proverbs 12:22 says, "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight". James 2:8-11 says, "8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law." God shows us the importance of not lying, by including the commandment to not, in the Ten Commandments and telling us in James that if we lie and break that commandment, we are guilty of adultery, murder and breaking the rest of the commandments.

Lying is a hard habit to break and it can be the poster child for the term "snowball effect". When we tell one lie, it almost always leads to another, and another and they get bigger and worse as they go. James 1:26 says, "If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless." 1 Peter 3:10 says, "For "He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit." Have you ever met someone who lied so much and so often, that they began to believe the lies themselves?

Lying is as prevalent in our society as is air. It should not be that way and that was not God's intention in the beginning, but that is how we have made it. I just want to remind you that the Bible tells us that everything done in secret will one day be brought out in the open and that God is everywhere and sees everything. So, let's seek God's help in cleaning up our mouths and hearts, so that one day when we stand before the King of kings and Lord of lords, we will have a few less things to be ashamed of and answer for.

Remember:  “He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time till at length it becomes habitual.”   Thomas Jefferson.

Until next time, please pray for each other and me, as I continue to pray for each of you. Love in CHRIST,

Brian Hanvey

Associate Pastor

Bethel Baptist Chruch