Daily Lesson for April 27, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 5 verses 33 through 37:

33 ‘Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.” 34But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

Dan Ariely is a psychologist at Duke University who studies the habits of deception and has written a really interesting book titled  “The Honest Truth About Dishonesty”.  Ariely says that as a society we are mostly truthful people, but that we tend to lie in small ways. Small lies we seem to be able to live with. It’s when these small lies pile up that we begin to actually see ourselves or others as liars. 

Ariely says evidence shows one of the ways we can actually become more truthful as a community is by reminding one another to be truthful more often and more up front. He cited a study of insurance adjustment rate reports which asked people how many miles in a year they put on their vehicles — rates being tied to the number of miles an owner drives in a given year. When asked to solemnly affirm the self-reported numbers as truthful, owners reported significantly more miles driven when if asked for their solemn affirmation at the beginning rather than the end of the questionnaire.  Ariely’s conclusion was that if they were asked to tell the truth up front then they were much less likely to fudge the numbers then if asked if what they had already stated was truthful.

We are a mostly truthful people. But truth is at risk these days. There are lots of “alternative facts” out there.  There are also a lot of out-right lies. We’re now in danger of normalizing lies.

We are a truthful people; and we need to expect the truth from one another. And we need to tell each other up front that we absolutely expect truth telling.  As a community we value and expect the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth from one another — so help us God.