(Inspired by George Verwer's booklet 'Pseudo-discipleship'.)
(Warning: This read is only for those who are serious in taking solid food as adult disciples of Christ. Eating this is going to require teeth and there won't be any dessert afterwards to drown the bitter after taste.)
We've all lied intentionally and sometimes unintentionally too whether we want to accept it or not. We've all been there. Though there is a difference between people who lie perpetually and people who lie out of helplessness or moments of weakness, I am justifying neither of them because God wouldn't. The differences between the two is in the intensity and consequences, the similarity is that when we lie, we sin.
You see, liars are good pretenders too. They pretend to be eager to listen and learn but they do that just enough to voice and insist their already and concretely formed opinion. They have all the outward characters like actively taking part in church activities and programs. They are regular church attenders and do things every good Christian is suppose to. They lie whenever it suits them and thus live their lives is contrary to the principle of discipleship which Christ laid down in truthfulness.
These kinds of people often make false suppositions and assumptions, eventually believing and even propagating them as truth. They added a thing or two, subtracted a thing or two to facts in order to win favours and approvals of some people. They tend to have no qualms about lying on things as simple as their age to things that could be as scandalous as a sexual misdemeanour in their past (or even present) which they are afraid would leak out and ruin their reputation. The problem is not as much in lying as much as it is in pretending that they never lied. They lie to cover up previous lies. Lies upon lies instead of embracing God's Grace upon Grace.
Jeremiah 17:9 said,
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Most people have deceitful hearts. But there are those who fought against it and then there are those who yielded to it, Those who yielded to it are called liars.
Liars go about telling little lies, convenient lies to suit their personal prospect, position and interests and justify their action by claims such as 'as long as it doesn't hurt anyone' or 'it's just this once' or 'there's no other option' or 'it' s a normal thing' or worst of all, 'it's a white lie'. What we often fail to understand is that a lie is a lie no matter the situation. There is no white lie. 'WHITE LIE' is just an excuse and a justification to a sin, a sin which God detests. It's not complicated to understand that no amount of justification will ever be enough to turn a lie into a truth. A 'white Lie' may not seem to hurt a human being but it hurts God. Period.
The Bible says in Revelations 21:8 "... and all liars will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”
Therefore, people who can relate to this personality needs to be careful not to lie even if you think you are helpless. There always in an option. Remember none of us is ever tested beyond what we can bear and that we are provided a way out whenever we face a trial (1 Cor 10:13).
The perpetual liars needs to repent whether they have habituated it or have just gotten comfortable with it. The Grace and Mercy of God beckons. Repent and do not delay because the longer you delay, the longer and deeper you suffer and the longer it will take to mend the consequential damages caused.
In John 8:44, Jesus said, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
I sincerely plead and hope that you do take extreme care not end up being daughters and sons of the Devil by living a life of lie.
Nonetheless, there is Hope, as always, in Christ because He also said in John 5:19 ".... Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."
Therefore, the hope is to emulate Jesus Christ, just as He imitated the Father, by following His example and also by always setting our sight on Him, the pioneer and perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
We must learn to throw off this sin or any others sin, for that matter, that easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1) and strive to live in truthfulness because we have come to know the Truth and the Truth has set us free! (John 8:32)
May our merciful God give you the Will and Strength to live from now onwards in truthfulness (if you needed to) as we are each given just one life. And if that life is gone, which it could any second, we'd have forfeit the chance to repent forever in exchange for an eternity of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Chingngaihlian Tunglut, Counsellor, YMCA Counselling Centre and Training Institute, Belapur, Navi Mumbai
