Our theme for this month: “Being a virtuous person”
Our Bible verse for today: “What is desirable in a person is his fidelity; better to be a poor person than a liar.” Proverbs 19:22 (CSB)
Our thought for today: “A virtuous person is honest – all the time.”
I’ve never much liked the politics of comedian and former United States Senator Al Franken, but I do like the title of a book he once wrote, “Lying Liars and the Lies they tell”. It’s a funny title. The book was meant to be a mockery of conservative Republicans but if you know Al Franken’s story (and his fall from grace), then you know the title ended up describing him pretty well. (It was discovered that he had a long and secret history of harassing and sexually assaulting pretty women. When the details began to emerge he vehemently and repeatedly lied about it until finally, there was so much evidence the truth could no longer be denied. It turned out he was a lying liar, and he told a lot of lies).
Lying is commonplace in our culture today (especially in the world of politics). Many people don’t hesitate to tell a lie if they believe doing so is in their own best interest in that moment. Other people have a bad habit of exaggerating. That’s a form of lying. Another common tactic is to shade the truth so a situation looks less bad than it would if the full truth were known. That too is lying. Any attempt to deceive or mislead people into believing a situation is different than what it really is, is a form of lying.
Lying (all forms of it) is a sin. The Ninth Commandment expressly forbids it. Not only is lying a sin, but it’s also the mark of a flawed character. A person who habitually engages in any form of lying is someone who cannot be trusted. The more a person lies, the less they can be trusted. Eventually it gets to the point that you have no idea what you can believe from that person and what you can’t.
This is especially dangerous when it comes to our elected officials. Lying outright, and shading the truth so things look different than they really are, has become so common in Washington D.C. that many of us have concluded it’s no longer possible to know whether our elected officials are being honest and straight with us, or if we’re being misled yet again.
An honest person does not lie. A virtuous person striving to live a life of moral excellence simply tells the truth and lets the chips fall where they may. Be that person. Don’t be one of those, “Lying Liars and the Lies they tell”.
Oak Hill Baptist Church