I remember the first time I consciously told a lie. I was about 6 or 7 years old and although I can’t remember all the details, I said something mean to another wee girl in the school playground and yep, there were repercussions. The little girl had cried, told the teacher and then unbeknownst to me, the teacher had shared the details of this verbal skirmish with my parents.
When I got home after school my dad asked if I had upset another girl at school. I was only young but I have this clear memory of having a choice – a choice to admit what had happened or a choice to lie. I chose to lie.
What followed was a moral tussle as my dad explained he knew I’d been unkind and he was now even more disappointed that I’d not told him the truth. I think there were tears and sorries but that experience seemed to sear something into my heart – the need to always tell the truth.
Ok, just so that I don’t come across here as a model of virtue- signalling piety, I should mention that in the following years, there were times that I fudged the truth, perhaps exaggerated or over-egged the dramatics of a situation. I remember one time as a grown adult, telling an outright lie to someone in order to get myself out of trouble. I sweated in moral anxiety all night over that one and as soon as dawn broke, went to see the person and in shame, confess what I’d done. I am so thankful for the harsh lesson I learned that night and (thankfully) a gracious and forgiving response.
In today’s world, truth-telling and integrity is often underrated and under utilised. Politicians utter half truths (or sometimes outright lies) and those who are not inclined to investigate further, believe them. Clickbait newspaper headlines (on all sides) convince us that unsubstantiated gossip is actual fact and even on a micro level, churches and Christians can get ‘fudgy’ with the truth too.
I remember one time visiting a church and although I couldn’t immediately place him, the guest speaker seemed familiar to me. As he told his life story of how God had rescued him from the most astonishingly depraved life, more info began to emerge from the fog of my brain.
I knew him! Ok, not well enough to say ‘hello’ but I knew of him through family and with a sickening thud, I realised the story he was telling was massively ‘embellished’ (for want of another word). All around me were little claps and Amens as the story grew and grew and all the while I began to wonder, if I told people this wasn’t true, would they be concerned? Would they see the ‘fruit’ coming from his ministry as a case of ‘the end justifying the means’?
I don’t know. I didn’t stay long enough to find out.
But here’s a simple truth; God doesn’t need us to lie for him.
We’re surrounded by his creation in all its spectacular glory. Every day globally, he heals, restores, works in incredible unseen ways and literally sustains the world around us. From the rising of the sun to the setting of the same, evidence of his handiwork is imprinted in every fibre of our world and in every cell of our bodies. God doesn’t need us to do his marketing.
And if we have integrity, we will run hard and fast away from anything which smells of fakery or embellishment. We’ll not manipulate figures, embellish testimonies or share stories that are ever so slightly loosey goosey with the truth. And in a world which takes a lot of delight in exposing fakery (especially ‘Christian fakery’) there’s no point anyway as it won’t take long for us to be found out.
The Bible has so much to say about the truth, about integrity. From the little things to the really big stuff, the truth matters.
Proverbs 12:22 says;
“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.”
The somewhat harsher version in The Message interpretation says:
“God can’t stomach liars; he loves the company of those who keep their word.”
Ouch!
Whether it’s a teeny exaggeration or a significant distortion, the truth matters.
If we’re following Jesus, Truth (yes, with a capital T!) is a non-negotiable. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). When we tell the truth (even when it’s hard), we’re reflecting part of his nature.
Six-year-old me didn’t understand the impact of dishonesty, but as an adult, I’ve seen the damage that lies cause, even when we think they’re small.
God doesn’t need us to fudge the details or ‘do his marketing’. He just needs us to tell the truth.
