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.
The great Czech poet and dissident turned statesman Vaclev Havel said, "The only way to resist tyranny is to live the truth."
Truth telling is supposed to be one of the hallmarks of the Christian community. It's so very sad then that so many have come to accept untruth and outright lies as a matter of course. Jesus said, this comes from the evil one.
We resist with truth telling. Truth telling on on our taxes. Truth telling in our promises. Truth telling in our pledges. Truth telling in the smallest and most mundane things we can imagine like what time we'll be home from work in order to throw the football with the children. Truth telling in the news we consume. Truth telling in our work. Truth telling in our reports. The expectation of truth telling from our institutions and public servants.
I've written before about interning for a congressman from my own district many years ago, and being instructed on the first day that if anyone ever called to ask to speak to the congressman I was supposed to tell them he was on the House Floor voting.
If you'll lie about something as small as that then you'll lie about anything. And if you can get away with lying about anything then you'll lie about everything.
The only way to resist this is by living the truth.
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
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