Dearly Beloved,
When is the last time you lied? Note the word “when” – not if! Who did you lie to last? What was the lie about? How did telling the lie work out for you? Why did you lie in the first place?
Just questions of course, however most of us are very adept if not experts at telling ourselves that we are just stretching the truth a little or that concealing the truth a bit is not that big a deal.
When is the last time you lied to yourself? Let me ask you this question, “Have you kept in the last week all 10 of the 10 commandments in thought, word and deed?” Please do not lie about it because did you know that someone has come up with the 12 truths about lying? You may not believe them but here they are:
1. Honesty may not always pay but lying always costs.
2. Trust is a tower, built stone by stone, lies take stones from the bottom.
3. There is no security in secrecy; every undiscovered lie is a live landmine.
4. Lies breed a bodyguard of new lies to protect themselves.
5. Lies look very different to the person lied to than the person telling the lie.
6. Rationalizing, justifying, or trying to minimize a lie only deepens distrust.
7. When we are lied to, we wonder: “What else have you lied to me about?”
8. It only takes one lie to make you a liar or distrust someone who lied to you.
9. Apologies for lying help but they can’t remove the scar or heal the wound.
10. You can’t disguise lies in half-truths or silence; a lie is a lie.
11. Lying is not only dishonest; it’s disrespectful.
12. When you lie to a liar, you’re still a liar.
Michael Josephson
We are still in John 5 in our series entitled, “Believe.” Jesus made some audacious claims about His identity and thus the Jewish religious leaders plotted to kill Him. In John 5: 31-47 the Lord Jesus is going to put on the witness stand 5 witnesses that testify to the truth claims that He made.
Are Jesus’ claims important to you and me? Friends, they are a matter of life and death, and I am not lying. Let’s come together on Sunday to worship the One who is the Truth! The only One who can set us free from the law of sin and death forever. The only One “who is able to protect you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Because authenticity with Jesus pays dividends,
Glen
P.S. We want to inform you that we will be continuing our livestream service on Sunday mornings at 10:45 am for those who are unable to attend in person. Recorded services will also be available online on Monday mornings. We strongly encourage you however to come in person and not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Remember our King inhabits the praises of His people!