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What’s the difference between a cat and a lie? A cat only has 9 lives. Proverbs 19:9 The false witness will not go unpunished and he who utters lies will perish. John 8:44 Jesus says "You belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies." Do you ever think about lies? Where do they come from? Why do we tell them? Is it ever ok to lie? These are interesting questions. They are ubiquitous in our society and it seems that lying isn’t a big deal to many people. How often have you heard someone say:
Well, since you asked, here goes. Jesus himself in Jn14:6 very clearly said,” I am the way and the Life.” In between those two, He also said, “I am the Truth!” Did you ever think about “The first lie?” Where was it delivered? Yup, in the Garden of Eden. Who delivered it? Yup, the very one who Jesus identified as, the father of lies. The crafty, slippery serpent slithered right up to Eve, convinced her that God was lying to her and to Adam about dying if they ate of the tree that is in the middle of the garden and then he told her that instead of death, her eyes would be opened and you will be like God knowing good from evil. That was the beginning of the end of Eden as God intended it. Now for those paying close attention to the Genesis account of this interaction, you’ve got to be baffled by how Satan, The Father of Lies could be believed when he calls the Holy Ever-living God a liar. Hmmmm. My initial thought was that Truth, with a capital T was the opposite of a lie. I also remember a discussion I had with a friend who told me that Cold was merely the absence of heat and a talk I had with my son where he shared with me that dark was simply the absence of light. I believe that God is the Truth with a T, that when we lie, be it a little white lie, a “not so bad” gray lie or a big black hairy lie, it shows our lack of concern for God’s Truth. I wonder, if that is true, does each lie we tell move us incrementally away from the very God who created us? What if it’s a half truth? Is that only half as bad? What about a “mostly true” sprinkled with a just a handful of little white lies? Does that pass the Truth test? Absolutely not You’ve heard the oath to tell: The Truth, the Whole Truth and nothing but the Truth, so help you God. When you overlay that on to half truths and “mostly true” with a sprinkle of little white lies, they fail the Truth test. We lie to others, it’s just a given. Worse than that, we lie to ourselves. And whatever is worse than worse, we try to lie to God. Can you imagine that? Since we’re already in the Garden of Eden at this point, do you remember when God asks, “Adam where are you?” Here we see Adam hiding the truth from God the Father. Isn’t that like lying? While we have established that Eve was deceived by Satan in the garden and we want to warn her to not listen to him, he’s Satan and he’s a liar. It is very important for us to remember that Satan is still around and he’s still lying as much as ever. He’s lying to me to you and to everyone he thinks is vulnerable. It’s critical for us to know that the lies he tells us, like:
Remembering that God actually knew us while we were in our mother’s womb, that we are made in His image and that He sent his only son to die for us and to redeem us form the fate we deserve, which is eternity in hell, it makes it easy to see where the Truth actually lies. Pun intended!
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AuthorI love that the Bible starts in a garden and ends in a garden. There are many "Garden Lessons" it teaches us. ArchivesCategories |