Put Away Your Lying Lips

It’s another election year. Call me cynical, but I have a hard time believing that all politicians tell the truth. Voters do not like to be lied to. Whether it is a salesman making a false sales pitch, a politician trying to get elected, or a neighbor outright lying to our face, we do not like being deceived.
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Now if we as sinful humans hate lies, what does God think about them? Proverbs 6:16-19 gives a list of things that God hates, and the second on that list is a lying tongue. Consider as well Proverbs 12:22, “Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.”
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It may be tempting to lie to try to protect yourself or even your possessions, but Proverbs 19:22 says it is better to be poor than to lie. “The desire of a man is his kindness: and a poor man is better than a liar.”
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Some argue that the examples in scripture of the midwives in Exodus 1 and Rehab in Joshua 2, would show that lying in certain circumstances is acceptable. First, we do not know that the statement of the midwives to Pharaoh in Exodus 1 was actually a lie. Second, though Rehab did lie to protect the spies sent by Joshua, she is rewarded not for her lie, but for her fear of God. Though she is praised in Hebrews 11:31 for receiving the spies, nowhere is she praised for her lying. In fact, shortly after she had lied to protect the spies, the Gibeonites lied to Joshua to protect themselves. Though God is merciful in preserving their lives, He punishes their lies by making them servants.
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I heard a story about an honest little girl during WWII. The Nazis entered her house looking for hidden Jews. They asked her were they were. She sincerely replied that they were under the table. Looking under the table and seeing no one there, they though they had been made fools of and left. They had not looked under the rug below the table to see the trap door and thus the Jews were safe. God rewards honesty. “The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.” (Proverbs 12:19)
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Not only is truth rewarded, but lying is punished. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8) Notice how lying is listed with murder and idolatry. It is also listed with the sin of unbelief. If we really believe God is holy, we will realize how bad lying is.
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Most likely you have told a lie. Perhaps you are even known as a liar. Liars can expect the punishment of the lake of fire unless they repent and believe in Christ as their only hope of salvation. Know that when you trust the Lord, you are trusting in a God that cannot lie. He promises in John 6:37, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
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Christ died to forgive your sins, including your lies. The only way to have them forgiven is to trust Him. Once you have trusted him, “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds” (Colossians 3:9).