Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Am I Guilty of Exaggerating?

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. I hope you will as well.

I was reading Rick Renner's "Sparkling Gems from the Greek" book today, and he wrote something that I knew I had to share with my blog audience. I believe it will challenge you like it did me. It is so easy to be CARELESS with the truth instead of BLAMELESS.

The Bible has much to say about liars. If you have a tendency to lie, it is essential that you bring correction to this part of your life as soon as possible. But you may ask, "How do we define a lie? What exactly does the Bible mean when it says we need to stop lying?"

In Colossians 3:9, the apostle Paul said, "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds." The word "lie" is the Greek word pseudomai, which carries the idea of any type of falsehood. It can picture a person who projects a false image of himself; someone who deliberately walks in a pretense that is untrue; or someone who intentionally misrepresents facts or truths.

In Greek, the word pseudomai is used in a variety of ways:

In every instance where the word pseudomai ("lying") is used in the New Testament, it portrays someone who misrepresents who he is by what he does, by what he says, or by the fact or truth he purports to be true. It was in regard to this wrong behavior that Paul said, "Lie not one to another." It is very important to point out that in Greek, the grammar conveys the idea of a strong prohibition, meaning this verse should be translated, "Stop lying to one another." It implies that the believers to whom Paul was writing struggled with the issue of honesty in their lives.

Paul's words to the Colossians could be interpreted like this:

"I command you to stop the practice of misrepresenting the truth, twisting the facts, projecting untrue images, or deliberately misleading others by giving them false information."

Lying is a temptation that all of us have to deal with in our lives. Apparently even the Colossian church struggled so strongly with this problem two thousands years ago that Paul had to write and tell them to stop lying.

You may not deliberately set out to lie, but anytime you misrepresent the truth about your abilities; say something about another person that you don't know to be true; slightly twist the facts to your advantage; or trump up a story about yourself or your past deeds to make yourself look better in the sight of others — you have fully entered into what the Bible views as "lies."

All this behavior was forbidden by Paul when he wrote, "Lie not to one another." Paul's words cannot be misunderstood or misinterpreted. This is a clear mandate to stop the habit of lying and to no longer give your consent to participate in any type of falsehood, dishonesty, deceit, fabrication, or misrepresentation of the truth in your life or in your conversation.

If you are the head of your household, church, ministry, or business, you have every right to demand that people stop being untruthful with you and each other. Let it be known that truthfulness is important — so important, in fact, that it is the foundation of all successful relationships at home, at church, and at work. It is impossible to build trust in a relationship if you suspect that the other person is being dishonest with you.

If you are the one in charge, set the example by always being truthful with the people under you. When people know that you are being straight with them, at least they'll know they can always depend on you to tell the truth, even if they don't like what you're telling them. In this way you can set the standard for integrity and truthfulness between all the members of your family, your church, or your business.

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