Those Liars

But let your word 'yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no' be 'no.' Anything more than this is from the evil one. Matthew 5:37

Who comes to mind when you hear the word "liar?" Almost surely you think of someone other than yourself--liars are the people who tell really big lies, really hurtful lies, lies that are worse than what we tell. In this passage Jesus points us to the heart attitude that lying comes from. We have all kinds of different ways of manipulating people that, in our minds, are totally different from lying. We choose our words very carefully so as to say nothing literally false, while leaving impressions that are both false and self-serving.

In fact, as we consider the evils we have learned about in the past six weeks, we will see that lies, the lies of Satan, are at the root of many of the temptations we face. Satan promises that we would be happier if we had someone else's house, and so we covet. Satan tells us we have the right to be angry at someone who has wronged us, and so we give in to a vengeful anger.

We are both tempted by lies and tempted to lie in order to serve the deceitful desires of our hearts.

Starter Prayer:

Father, forgive us for the way we try to hide ourselves with words the way Adam and Eve hid themselves with fig leaves. Forgive us for the way we use our words to manipulate others. Your words are always true. Put a spirit of truth in our hearts.

Amen.