I heard a story one time about a preacher who was asked to do a funeral for one of the town’s politicians. As he was standing next to the casket, eulogizing the man during his message, the preacher declared to the crowd, “Dearly beloved, here lies a man who was full of the truth.” And then out of nowhere, somebody yelled from the back, “Yeah, because the truth never came out of him!”

Well, I pray that such a thing could never be said of us. We are to be people of the truth. The truth should come out of us all the time. But let’s be honest, we are tempted every single day to lie. We are tempted to lie avoid confrontation. We are tempted to lie to spare someone’s feelings. We are tempted to lie to get ourselves out of an unwanted situation.

We have all been guilty of telling an out and out, bald-faced lie, but we don’t just lie by telling an out and out lie. We also lie when we intentionally misrepresent something by omitting a piece of the truth or by exaggerating a piece of the truth. You might say in your defense, “Hey, I didn’t lie. I just didn’t tell the whole truth.” Well, beloved, keep in mind that a half-truth is a whole lie.

The Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:25, “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” To say that more straightforwardly, stop lying, and start telling the truth. Beloved, that would make our community so much better. And that’s no lie!

Change begins in you!