You Shall Not Lie

“¹¹You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.” – Leviticus 19:11 (ESV)

What harm can a little white fib do? Well, in the eyes of God, it is still wrong and sinful. You can see here that lying falls in the same context of stealing from and dealing dishonestly with others.

That seems very harsh considering how we sometimes use fibs to spare feelings. I know that I have had in my own dealings with people that have lied to me because they have said they did not want me to worry based on the pressure I was under or other things going on in my life at the time.

In my own experience, lying does not make it better. In fact, once the lie is discovered, there is a greater sense of anxiety, disappointment, and realization of lack of trust with the other person. Wouldn’t it just be easier to get it out in the open so that it can be dealt with as opposed to suppressing the issue and letting fester and grow out of control. Wouldn’t it ease the mind and heart to just deal with the consequences as opposed to putting it off until it is so bad that it creates more problems and anxiety.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks on lying in verses 33-37 of Matthew 5. Here He reminds us that yes and no mean just that, and any other meaning is falsehood.

“³⁷Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” – Matthew 5:37 (ESV)

I am glad that I have the reminders in my life that lying is a sin, and I know that I am still a sinner and will lie. I have Jesus on my side each day to forgive me of those sins as I repent of them to Him. I have to remember that repentance is a daily action and something as simple as a fib counts as those that I need to repent. I shall not lie.

Have you lied to spare the feelings of someone? What if you just took the approach that your “yes” and “no” mean just that? What if you took the approach that you shall not lie?