Speak The Truth
If You Want to be Free!
Speaking the Truth- This is a principle that seems easy on the surface. Always tell the truth. The truth is much easier to remember than a lie! People recognize the truth when they hear it, and they will trust you more for telling the truth. Tell the truth and you will have a clear conscience. These points are all valid and you may ask why would someone choose not to Speak the Truth? I can think of two main reasons.
First, the risk of consequence. A simple example is a child who has not completed a chore but when asked about it knows that they will get in trouble if they say no, so they lie and say it is done. This likely buys them a short reprieve from the consequences until it is discovered that they actually did not complete the chore. At this point they are in deeper than before, having both failed to do the chore and now lying about it. Most parents would more easily excuse the child’s laziness over the lie that was told to cover it up! Then when confronted about both issues the child tries to deflect the consequence onto their sibling…It was Johnny’s fault that I was not able to do my chore! Now the child is shirking personal responsibility for their own choices and placing false blame on their sibling. They are now four levels deep and in much worse shape than if they had admitted the truth in the first place and lived with the initial consequence that would have followed. We can see from this simple example how failing to take personal responsibility for Speaking the Truth has escalated into a broader set of issues and has cost the child the trust of their parents and their personal integrity.
As we get older the scope and consequences can escalate quickly and result in long term impact to our personal integrity. It may be that we didn’t do anything wrong ourselves, but simply failed to Speak the Truth regarding the acts of another. The consequence of telling your boss the truth can be a strong deterrent, especially when you might know they don’t want to hear it! But withholding the truth will eat at your conscience and weaken your integrity. We often see Whistleblowers wait months or years before exposing the truth due to the consequences they will face. So, whether you are personally guilty of an offense or simply not speaking up due to social pressures, you will always feel better once you decide to Speak the Truth.
Secondly, people deliberately lie or deceive for their personal gain. This is clearly the more nefarious of the two. We are each born with a conscious which gives us an innate understanding of right and wrong. We all know when we choose to drift from the truth or tell an outright lie. The question is whether our conscience will kick in and guide us to Speak the Truth or will we suppress it until our conscience no longer functions? As we observe our world, we find that there are many professional liars who routinely deceive us for their personal gain. Newscasters who read their globalist scripts knowing that what they are telling us is not true but doing it anyway to keep their high paying jobs. Politicians who tell us what we want to hear to get our votes, then do the exact opposite of what they promised. Investment advisors who pitch products they know won’t deliver the results promised, just to earn their fat commissions. Governments who routinely pass legislation with names that sound promising, i.e., the Patriot Act, when the actual content suppresses our freedoms and liberties! It is no wonder that we become skeptical and cynical after years of being bombarded with these constant lies. One of Satan’s titles Is the Father of all Lies! Those who tell deliberate lies for their personal gain at the expense of others will be accountable to God.
Of course, a commitment to Speaking the Truth does not give you license to be insensitive or callous. Diplomacy will always have a role to play. As Mary Poppins said “‘A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”. We can always choose to deliver the truth with an appropriate level of sensitivity. The truth will often be willingly received if the recipient feels that it is being delivered in the spirit of sharing and caring, rather than spite or personal attack. Diplomacy is a great companion to Speaking the Truth!
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Thank you for the challenge to stand in truth more often!