Telling The Truth 4

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to ask the question WHY DO WE LIE?

Once you understand the motivation behind your lying, then you can deal with the real issue. Lying is not your real problem. It's the symptom of a deeper problem.

I find it helpful to categorize lies by what motivates the different kinds. I've listed five different lies; I want us to see what are the primary motivation for each of these lies we will look at three of them today.

First there is “The cruel lie”. This is the kind of lie that is intentionally destructive and malicious. You tell it to get revenge. You don't like somebody. They've hurt you so you're going to get even.

You make up some lie about them. Politicians do this all the time. They spend money on ads to put out cruel lies. This is called slander. Slander means when you make up something about somebody that's not true with the intentional purpose of damaging their reputation.

The Sadducees did this to Jesus.
What is the motive behind that kind of lie? Jealousy, revenge, hurt, anger, hate, resentment.

When I don't like you and I'm bitter against you and I'm angry, hurt or whatever and I get resentful then it will be very easy for me to tell a cruel lie just to get back at you.

Then there is “The cowardly lie”. This is the kind of lie you tell to escape consequences. You want to avoid punishment. You're trying to protect yourself, prevent pain.

"My dog ate my homework." Adam told this kind of lie in the Garden of Eden, when he sinned, he took it like a man and blamed his wife. When you don't want to get into trouble you tell a cowardly lie.

What is the motive behind that kind of lie? Fear is the motivation behind a cowardly lie. The Bible says the fear of man is a trap. Peer pressure produces cowardly lies.

Or when you don't have the courage to say "no". That's a cowardly lie. Has someone ever asked you to do something and you said, "I just
can't" when you really mean "I don't want to."

There is a big difference between "I don't want to" and "I can't" -- it's called a lie. That's a cowardly lie.

And last today is “The conceited lie”. This is when you lie to impress. You're trying to create an image or cover up low self-esteem so you brag. Bragging and lying are first cousins. They go together.

When you exaggerate and prop yourself up that's a conceited lie.
What is the motive behind that kind of lie? Insecurity.

What comes off as pride and ego, when you pull away the layers is a very frightened, insecure person. If I don't think I'm good enough as I am then I have to puff up my resume (which studies say 40% of the people do). Or the fish gets bigger each time.

You begin to tell these stories because it's not good enough just where you are. Really at the root of it is insecurity.

This is the kind of lie we use when we try to hide our hurt.

Either way a lie is a lie!

All For Jesus
Phil