It is more important to preserve our good name and reputation than to be rich or successful. However, how many of us actually believe that? It cannot be very many, or we would not behave as we do. Yet the Bible says that it is …
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Truthfulness will inevitably make you unpopular with some people
Refusing to tell lies can make you very unpopular. I vividly remember my first day on patrol as a police constable in November 1983. I was put with my designated ‘tutor constable’, whose task was to teach me the practicalities of how to do the …
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Being truthful means swimming against the tide and refusing to compromise
If you seriously set out to become totally honest from now on then it will frequently mean swimming against the tide. You will stand out from the crowd and your honesty will not be liked or appreciated by everybody. That is putting it mildly. Many …
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Then turn that decision to be truthful into an ingrained habit, so it becomes instinctive, without needing to think
Having made a genuine decision to eliminate all lying, no matter how small or seemingly justified it may be, you then have to take steps to turn that decision into an ingrained habit. That means sticking at it for a long enough period of time …
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How we can develop ‘the love of the truth’ and the character quality , and habit, of truthfulness?
The LORD is near to all who call upon him,to all who call upon him in truth. Psalm 145:18 (RSV) Keep your tongue from eviland your lips from speaking deceit. Psalm 34:13 (ESV) Take heed lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and …
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Even Christians will have to give an account of their lives at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Therefore it is better to ask for God’s correction and judgment now, in this life
It is not just non-Christians who need to be wary of telling lies. Christians will also have to face Jesus Christ one day in judgment. For them it will be at the Judgment Seat of Christ. The lies told by a Christian might not necessarily …
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Every lie will one day be exposed at the Great White Throne Judgment, which is for non-Christians
Every non-Christian will, one day, have to face Jesus Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment. Then, every lie they have ever told will be publicly exposed. All things will be put right and made straight. Any lies that a non-Christian has ever told will …
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The average person automatically believes whatever suits their own interests, regardless of whether it is actually true
A key feature of our fallen human nature is that we are self-centered. That has a very adverse effect on the way we behave. However, it also affects the way we handle information. It distorts the way we see and hear things and deflects us …
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If we have got our doctrine wrong, or have given a false prophecy, we should welcome correction. We must then be willing to alter our opinion or our teaching rather than cling to it stubbornly
If a person has the love of the truth then, when they realise that they have made a mistake or have got their doctrine or theology wrong, they are pleased to be corrected. They are not proud or stubborn and they don’t resent being told …
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We must be totally honest with ourselves when we read the Bible
Many people read the Bible in a superficial way, not really taking it seriously and not being honest with themselves about what it says. That is why most of us can read the Bible, or hear it read or being preached on, and yet be …
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