Divergent

Ps. 101:⁷ (VOICE) “The one who makes a habit of deceit will not be welcome in my house; The one who lies will not remain in my presence for long.”

Lying is a spectrum and it has many levels to it. It is not until someone commits perjury that it becomes a big deal. Usually, lying starts small with flattery.

An anonymous writer defines flattery as, “saying to someone’s face what you would never say behind their back!” Then it graduates to exaggeration. In an attempt to achieve a desired result, you overstate what you said, did, or accomplished and that is exaggeration.

Next on the spectrum, is gossip. And gossip is casual or unconstrained conversation about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true. It is almost impossible to gossip without exaggeration. The gossip is a master exaggerator because their stories thrive on exaggerated details. It is really annoying when Christians use prayer meeting as an opportunity to spread all sorts of gossip. We need to pray because the way that man is changing cars like he is changing shoes is suspect – Gossip! It is gossip and you should have nothing to do with it. Then, outright lies become perjury.

When we say things just to achieve a desired result, we set ourselves up for lies. Let’s say in the course of a conversation, your desired aim may be to look good; you are setting yourself up for lying. Or you want the person to like you; you set yourself up for flattering which is a lie. When there is an agenda, it usually leads to lies. You know your friend does not look good in that dress but because you want to flatter her, you say the dress looks so good on her. But in your heart, you are saying something else. I am not saying you should tell the person they look ugly; but suggest that they try another dress – but do not flatter.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, please purge me through and through and rid me of everything and anything that cannot be found in God’s character, in Jesus Name. Amen!