Lance, Lies, and A Look In The Mirror

Friday, March 1, 2013

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Spiders build webs, and a lot of bugs get stuck in them. Well, that's because they know where the sticky spots are, so spiders don't get trapped in the webs they weave, but humans do.

I saw it when I watched Oprah Winfrey's interview with Lance Armstrong. "One big lie" - that's how he described what's happened in his record-breaking sports career. It was all built on brilliantly concealed "doping" and a cascading series of cover-up lies. Lots of folks get caught in the web, from bicycle racing officials to teammates to a world of admirers.

Actually, the Latin root of the word "deceive" means "to ensnare." First of all, lying ensnares those being deceived. Ultimately, you guessed it, it ensnares the one doing the deceiving. Trust gets lost. Reputation is lost. Self-respect is lost. You get lost.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Lance, Lies - And A Look In The Mirror."

I'm sure a lot of people look at Lance Armstrong and say, "How could he do such a thing?" Maybe we need to be looking in the mirror and asking, "How could I do such a thing?" Because here's what God says about the entire human race, "Their tongues practice deceit" (Romans 3:13).

The spotlight exposing Lance Armstrong's lies actually spills over and I think it exposes some of our own dishonest ways of getting through life. Especially if you identify what lying really is. It is any intention to deceive; to mislead - to leave people believing something other than what's really true. By exaggerating, "spinning" the facts a little bit, covering up, leaving things out, making false promises, or telling people what they want to hear.

Oh, we have our reasons. Lance Armstrong said lying was part of doing "anything to control the outcome." We lie to get our way, to get out of a jam, to get people to like us, to get ahead. We deceive our husband or wife, our family, people at work, our pastor, or the people at church, maybe a boyfriend or girlfriend, the teacher. We lie to the doctor. We lie to people we want to impress.

More than we want to admit, the truth is often optional in how we do life, or at least bendable. And ultimately, we start to lose touch with reality and can't even hear our own lies. Inevitably, we'll get caught in the web that we have woven.

We may think lying is no big deal. It is to God, and we're going to answer to Him some day. On the Bible list of "six things the Lord hates," lying is the only one that appears twice in Proverbs 6:16-19. And in our word today from the Word of God in Psalm 101:7, He bluntly declares that "no one who practices deceit will dwell in My house." God is a God of truth. Lying sets God against me. Dishonesty is a very big deal.

God hears lies when everyone else - maybe even the liar - thinks it's the truth. He says the one who "may dwell in (His) sanctuary" is the one "who speaks truth from his heart" (Psalm 15:1, 2). That probing Scripture has given me a "lie detector" question to ask myself throughout the day: "Does what's coming out of my mouth match what's in my heart?" If it doesn't, it's a lie. Jesus tells me that the devil "is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44). And I'll tell you, that makes lying even scarier.

Years ago, I started praying a prayer that God has been more than faithful to answer. "Lord, set off an alarm in my soul any time I'm saying something that's less than the truth"; asking the Lord for instant conviction of any statement that might be intended to deceive, followed by instant correction of that statement so I'm speaking the truth from my heart. It's called walking in the truth where you have nothing to hide.

I'm grateful that when "Christ died for our sins" (1 Corinthians 15:4), He paid for every lying thing, selfish thing, hurtful thing we've ever done. Which puts total forgiveness within our reach - a clean slate - if we'll reach for Jesus.

Look, if you've never begun your personal relationship with Him and had that forgiveness applied to your sin, would you go to our website and find your way home? It's YoursForLife.net. This is the day you can be clean.