In my devotional time this week I read a passage called “The Wages of Deceit” from Max Lucado’s book Grace for the Moment, Volume I. In his devotion, Max quotes Psalm 101:7: “No one who is dishonest will live in my house; no liars will stay around me.”
More than once I’ve heard people refer to the story of Ananias and Sapphira with a nervous chuckle and say, “I’m glad God doesn’t still strike people dead for lying.” But, I’m not so sure He doesn’t. It seems to me that the outcome of deceit is still death. Maybe not death of the body, but the death of these vital areas of life:
- Marriage – falsehoods are nothing more than termites in the trunk of the family tree.
- Conscience – the tragedy of the second lie is that it is always easier to tell than the first.
- Career – just ask the student who got booted out of college for cheating or the employee who got fired for embezzlement if the lie wasn’t fatal.
Deceit can also cause the death of intimacy, trust, peace, credibility and self-respect. But perhaps the most tragic death that occurs from deceit is our Christian witness. A court of law won’t listen to the testimony of a perjured witness. And, neither will the world. A good reminder for all of us…
“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” -Colossians 3:9-10 (NIV)
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By: Glenn Burris Jr., general supervisor
