Encouragement

Telling Lies is a Bad Habit

by Adekunle Lawal
03/30/14
For Sale
Author requests article critique

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

Telling Lies is a Bad Habit

What is lying?

Lying is an act of deliberately not telling the truth. It is a shameful habit; and every Christian should be far away from it. When some people tell lies they call it wisdom; lying and wisdom are not the same. Wisdom is divine, it is God that gives wisdom; it does not involve deception (James 1: 5, 17). On the other hand, lying is deceptive and devilish; Satan is the coordinator of all lies (John 8: 44).

Exaggeration is another form of lying. When a person is narrating an event, and finds himself adding what did not actually happened to the real story; he should know that he has entered into a Satanic territory, a lying arena. Every Christian should try as much as possible to guide his tongue, so that lying does not have a place in our lives (Psalm 39: 1; James 1: 26).

Many years ago, during the period when Saul was the King of Israel, there was a war between the people of Israel and Philistines. The battle was so tough that King Saul and his three sons lost their lives. It happened that one of the Israelite soldiers, an Amalekite, escaped from the battle field, and gave a report to David who was at Ziklag.

After the soldier had finished his story, David asked for evidence to confirm that King Saul was dead; then the man showed David the crown and an arm bracelet that belonged to the king. In actual fact, the King killed himself (1 Samuel 31: 4). Instead of telling the truth how he found the items, the soldier exaggerated the story.

He said, “So I stood upon him(King Saul), and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord(David)” (2 Samuel 1: 10 KJV).

The soldier thought that David would be very happy, and reward him for killing his enemy.

Surprisingly, David asked the man, “How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?” (2 Samuel 1: 14 KJV).

David ordered one of his soldiers to kill the man, because he claimed that he had killed the King of Israel; the act which was unacceptable to David.  (Bible Text: 2 Samuel 1: 1-16).

There are great lessons to learn from the story.

What Makes People Tell Lies?

1. The Adamic Nature in Man: Every man has tendency of telling lies or exaggerating (Romans 5: 14-21), but a Christian has power over this sinful habit through Christ (Galatians 3: 13).

2.  Fear of Exposing their Secrets: In order to conceal their secrets, some people decide to tell lies (Proverbs 28: 1).

3. Fear of Punishment: It is better to tell the truth and be punished, than to tell lies and cause confusion (Proverbs 11: 21).

4. Covetousness: A Christian should not covet other people’s property, because this can lead him to lying (Hebrews 13: 5).

5. Imitating Bad Friends: Obviously, if a Christian joins bad friends, he is bound to imitate them, if he is not careful (1 Corinthians 15: 33).

6. They Want to Impress other People: Some people exaggerate a story just to make a fun, or to impress their audience, but the Lord Jesus Christ says this is dangerous (Matthew 12: 36).

How Can this Bad Habit be Broken?

1. Surrender your Life to Jesus Christ: If you surrender your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, He has the ultimate power to silent this shameful habit in your life (2 Corinthians 5: 17; Romans 6: 14).

2. Study the Bible and Put to Practice What You Study: There is no any shortcut to solve this problem, but to be obedient to the Word of God (Psalm 119: 9). Only obedient Christians overcome sins, including the sin of lying.

I pray that the Lord will give you strength to overcome sins in Jesus’ name. Amen.