Lies & Truth, A Challenge

Lies & Truth, A Challenge

Challenges to think on…..

Did you LIE about anything this week? Think long and hard….

We don’t always tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth….”

What causes us to LIE?

What lies do we BELIEVE that cause us to tell lies?

Did you promise anyone anything this week?

Did you keep your promise? Did you ever break a promise to anyone?

Do you think we should make promises when we might not be able to keep them for any number of reasons?

How can we practice being truthful?

How can we live lives of truth?

If you actually told someone the truth about something this week, did you do it in a LOVING way?

Just a few things to ponder on. Things I am thinking about….

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” (Matthew 5:33-37 ESV)

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15 ESV)

I was thinking that I often say the phrase, “Lord willing” or “God willing”, when I am planning things, but in saying that, I need to be careful that I don’t use that as an excuse when I fail to do something and end up “blaming” my failure on God somehow (He must not have been “willing”?) when the fact is that the problem is really my own weakness or imperfection in the situation.

In truth, I actually forgot, something else got in the way, or something “better” came up that caused me to fail to meet my commitment or plan.

What are your thoughts?

I’m interested….