A Cup of Tea With Me

I will be completely honest here. I do lie. It is something I have been working on, and am getting better. However, the conviction has come upon me, and I have confessed my sin. I am repenting of my lies. I have asked God to show me of anyone I need to apologize to for lying to them, if there is anyone I have hurt in my lies. Psalm 15:2 says:

Whoever lives a blameless life,
does what is right,
and speaks honestly (NET)

These are the people who will “live on the holy hill”. The ones who are righteous. The kind of person that God wants us to be. He wants those that speak honestly. No lies.

Lies come in many forms. There is the little white lie and the lie of omission (this one is particularly tough for me). Both of these lies seem harmless when they are told. The thing is lying is a sin. It is one of the 10 commandments. Exodus 20:16 speaks plainly. “You shall not witness falsely against your neighbor.” (AMP) It does not matter if it is a “little white lie” or a major lie, they are both equally wrong in God’s eyes. A little sin is still sin. All sin offends God.

From this morning on, I am making an effort to stop the lies. I will not tell them anymore. Not even the little white ones to save face. HOWEVER, if I cannot say anything good, without lying, I will say nothing at all. It is better to remain silent, and not lie, than to tell the truth and hurt others. Case in point:

The other day, I saw a friend of mine. She had colored their hair. The color was not really becoming of her. She was very excited about the change. She needed change. I have been there myself. I have needed a change, made the wrong one and thought it was great. I could empathize with her. What would have been the best course of action? Tell her you like it and it looks great? Tell her it is certainly different? Or keep your mouth shut. Well, in this case she asked me what I thought. If she would not have asked, I would have said nothing. But since she asked, I had no choice. I said, “You needed a change in your life and you found one you are happy with.” I did not tell her that I did not like it. I spared her feelings and did not offend God by lying to my friend. I am sure, if I would have had time to think about it, I would have come up with something more uplifting. But I had to think fast.

Thinking fast is where I usually get into trouble. It is where I usually say the wrong things to spare the other persons feelings. I need God’s wisdom to be able to handle those situations better. I do not want to hurt feelings of my friends but I do not want to hurt God by telling a little white lie, either.

Father, please help me to honor You, and give me Your wisdom to respond in ways that are not hurtful, but are not filled with little white lies.

Some of my readers have already read this. To you all, I apologize. There will be new devotions, soon.

Psalm 15:3 He does not slander, or do harm to others, or insult his neighbor. (NET)

One of my sins is slander or gossip. I normally do not start the process, but I almost always get caught up in the negativeness of gossiping about people, when I am at work. I realize this is wrong, and I need to change this. I have confessed the sin of gossiping about others, and will make an effort to stop what seems to come so naturally to me.

Did Christ whisper to John that he knew Judas was going to betray him? No, I think not. Gossip does not model Christ-like behavior to others. It encourages others to think and talk negatively about our neighbors, acquaintances and even our friends. Many times, if someone is willing to gossip with you about someone you both know, don’t you know that person is gossiping about you to others? Also, you are most likely doing the same. Gossiping about one friend to another, then turning around and gossiping about the second friend to a third.

This is a viscous cycle that we need to break in today society. God created all men equal. We are not to judge others. We are to love others.

Next time I am in a situation where gossip comes into the conversation, I will do one of three things:

• Say something nice about the object of the gossip. Point out good qualities, instead of focusing on the negative.
• Change the subject.
• Politely ask the person to not gossip. Tell them that it is something I am trying to weed out of my life and maybe they could hold me accountable. If I start to gossip, they could remind me.

If you have the sin of gossip in your life, I urge you to confess it now, and join me in my personal challenge to not gossip, and to let others know it is no long a part of our lives.