Wednesday: The Truth of the Righteous
Read Proverbs 12:1-28 and focus on the theme of words, especially in the context of telling truth or telling lies. What message do we find here about honesty and lying?
Image © Darrel Tank from GoodSalt.com
Philosopher Sissela Bok has convincingly demonstrated how lying can be harmful for society. She writes: A society, then, whose members were unable to distinguish truthful messages from deceptive ones, would collapse.
— Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life (New York: Pantheon Books, 1978), p. 19. Likewise, Augustine, as quoted in the introduction of Bok’s book, noted that when regard for truth has been broken down or even slightly weakened, all things will remain doubtful.
— Page xv.
Ellen G. White wrote: Lying lips are an abomination to Him. He declares that into the holy city
— My Life Today, p. 331.there shall in no wise enter . . . any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie.
Let truth telling be held with no loose hand or uncertain grasp. Let it become a part of the life. Playing fast and loose with truth, and dissembling to suit one’s own selfish plans, means shipwreck of faith. . . . He who utters untruths sells his soul in a cheap market. His falsehoods may seem to serve in emergencies; he may thus seem to make business advancement that he could not gain by fair dealing; but he finally reaches the place where he can trust no one. Himself a falsifier, he has no confidence in the word of others.
When we think of how powerful words are, we must think about lying as well, because most lies are told with words. Who hasn’t felt the sting, the betrayal, the sense of defilement when lied to? It’s not hard to imagine a society falling into total chaos when lying is the norm rather than an aberration from the norm.
There’s another angle, too: the effect of lying on the one who lies. Some people are so used to the practice that it doesn’t bother them; many people, though, do feel a sense of guilt, of shame, when they lie. Good for them, because that means there is still some receptiveness to the Holy Spirit.
Imagine, though, the danger for the one who lies but doesn’t even think twice about it.
When was the last time you lied? How did you feel when you did it?
(16)
To a God fearing person to lie is like selling yourself cheap, as you know all the time deep inside that we can do better than just to lie to feel safe for that instant of a short moment. But then on the other hand to tell the truth & be honest is like know happiness. I know it can be hard to trust people around nowadays or to be the only person to stand out from the crowd looking as the good fool. But looking like a fool to a liar is better than loosing ones relationship with God. As it is said in Proverbs “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.” Or as “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight” So let’s all learn to be honest & trust to make the right decision in life. God’s Blessings!! - WF
We are having turmoil at work, accusations and counter accusations being thrown around. People jumping to conclusions without the full facts. Decisions made on hearsay. Pour a big helping of emotions on top of everything and how will we every discover the real truth.
So sad when all of us profess to be Christians, what an example to the rest of the staff which include non Christians, one of whom is a Sangoma (traditional healer/ancestor worship) Wikipeda Sangoma
Is it possible that a big helping of forgiveness could go far towards solving the problem?
I mean, if there's no way to really find out who/what's wrong, isn't it best just to ask for forgiveness and to forgive - whatever the case may be?
Hi Inge,
Thank you, yes that is the best, so from my side irrespective of what the others do I forgive them and leave them in the hands of the LORD.
Unfortunately the Boss will not, as it is his business and involves questions of money.
As Jesus said, in the world we will have trouble but He give us His peace which passes all understanding.
I am pleased to be able to report that a truce has been declared at my work. The boss called in the various parties separately to let each one tell their side of the story and to provide supporting evidence. He then got all parties in together and gave his verdict on the issue. But more importantly he showed them the best way to handle conflicts in future: communicate (don't fly off the handle), make sure you get all the facts (don't jump to conclusions), team work for the benefit of the company (leave your ego's at home)and lastly - don't herd the cattle from the back with a whip, lead the sheep by example & inspiration from the front.
Wow, Shirley, sounds like you have a boss who exercised divine wisdom! 🙂
Asking for forgiveness what ever the case might be would sound like hiding the trueth.If that were right,Jesus would have done so in all the oppositions he faced.Joseph in Egypt could have easily asked for forgiveness but that would hide the trueth wich we are called to defend and stay by it in Christs name!
If things are too complex to adress,leave them on God's hands,for trueth to prevail and get revealled.
Hi Harry, you bring up an interesting point. When we forgive someone for hurting us does that mean we are saying what they did was OK?
Not at all. The word forgive original was a money issue, I sell you a product but you don't have the money at the moment so you promise to pay me later. You now owe me X amount. Time goes on and you still can't pay me because your situation goes from bad to worse. Eventually I decide to write off your debt, I say I forgive you your debt, you no longer owe me X amount.
That is why some versions of the LORD's prayer says: forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
Jesus goes on to say that our Father will not forgive us our debts (sins) if we don't forgive others their debts to us.
To forgive someone means what you have done to me (not paid me, hurt me) is not right but I am not going to hold it against you anymore.
Like Jesus on the cross said Father forgive them, he did not mean what they did was alright, he meant don't hold it against them.
So forgiveness does not cover up the truth. We must always stand up for The Truth i.e. the Gospel, however between humans there is a saying: there is your version of events and my version and then there is the truth of what happened. If between people no matter how much it is discussed they are unable to come to an agreement as to what really happen and who said and did what or not then it no longer serves any purposes to carry on arguing, rather agree to put it to rest and forgive each other for hurts and even perceived hurts.
I like verse 19 of Proverbs 12. Lying lips are only for a moment but the lips that are truthful will always last forever. This reassures me that that the father of lies, that old serpent, satan himself will not be around forever. But my JESUS, The Father of Truth and Light will reign forever and ever and ever. To God be the Glory.
It is a good practice to ask yourself, what would Jesus do before yielding to the temptation to lie. God will give you the strength to tell the truth or stand for what is right in any situation. God promised never to leave us nor forsake us even during difficult or uncomfortable moments.
To me probably the worst lies of all are those we tell to ourselves. - when we tell ourselves that we are what we are not.
Lie is not only a hindrance to our salvation because it is transgression of the Law. But a hindrance to peace and development of any people. In such society it's always the material not the spiritual. But Christianity is about spiritual salvation alone.
Sadly we have come to a world whose way of life gives more value to appearance rather than substance. And this came about because lies have been lived or said in order to sustain the fiction. Continuing on this path will surely result to a world in confusion. Confusion not because of a lack of knowledge but despite the abundance of it. Our world though bursting with knowledge today seem more confused than ever. Why, because we have blurred the lines between what is real and what is fancy. We refuse to learn what the word of God teaches us as the final truth and exchange them for lies foisted by the rich, the famous or the powerful. Again the fulfillment of prophecy about the last days finds expression in the conditions prevailing in the world today. It's just unfortunate that we could've done better had we been more faithful to God's words as they apply to our lives. Maybe our church can finally raise its voice to be the midnight cry that were supposed to be unless we are still sleeping or worse we are leading the parade to perdition.
This is all true but there is something I believe that is left out. Maybe I missed it... at work.. but here goes.
How about when you lie and the HOLY SPIRIT convicts you, you know then what you did. But you don't make it right. An opportunity presents itself... you lie again. The HOLY SPIRIT convicts you once again of your lie but.. again, you choose to ignore it. Sooner or later, the HOLY SPIRIT will be heard by you less and less until you hear it NO more. Dangerous ground.
I am listening to Genesis on tape as I travel to/fro in my car. I have to admit, I'm a little confused. It seems a double standard when it seems that both Abraham and Isaac profited from their lies re: their wives (being their sisters) instead of trusting God to protect them. What say you on this subject? (Genesis 12, 20 and 26)
The fact that God blessed Abraham and Isaac although they had lied does not mean that God condoned bearing false witness. Abraham and Isaac were God's chosen people so He had an obligation to protect them, so HE unveiled to Pharoah and Elimelech that they had lied.Rom 3 verse 23 says: "all have sinned, and have fallen short of the glory of God." Even in our personal lives, we have some foolishness that we portray. But if we believe in him God forgives and blesses us still.
It seems to me that Abraham's behavior removed the Lord's obligation for protection (see covenant in Genesis 15), and this is a good example demonstrating how the Lord of the Old Testament was ever gracious to His people. Many Christians have difficulty seeing the love of God in the Old Testament, but there are many examples of grace in those pages.
If we would handle people like a piece of wood, gently, patiently, with the utmost care they will come alive and shine, with the Truth.
We hear a lot about transparency these days and how important it is in government, at work, and even in the home but unfortunately it will never truly exist as long as we have things we want to hide.