Everyone Lies – Right? The Ninth Commandment

Everyone Lies, Right?

The ninth commandment

Exodus 20.16; Deuteronomy 5.20

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Psalm 12.1, 2

“Help, LORD, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.”

It’s practically second nature.

We have become so used to the practice of distorting truth that it hardly bothers us anymore. Whether the deceiver is an ad on television, a political candidate making a promise, or just a simple reassurance from a friend, people are so accustomed to the stretching of truth that no one thinks anything of it. Except, of course, God. He is a God of truth, not lies, and it greatly troubles Him when men play fast and loose with the truth. It’s not just a quaint 21st century cultural quirk that men twist, bend, misrepresent, or distort truth in order to make a point or gain some advantage. It is an act of rebellion against God. Christians can be as careless with their words as their neighbors sometimes, saying things we don’t mean or that we think will impress when we know (or suspect) that the truth is something other than what we’ve said. Any deviation from truth is a misrepresentation of truth, and, therefore, a form of the Lie. The Lie seeks to make a mockery of truth by touting the whims and preferences of men over the abiding Word of God. But God will have the last say, and, when He does, let us pray that our voices will resonate easily and naturally with His.

Have you ever caught yourself stretching the truth a bit? How does this happen? Why do we do this?
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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.