“You can hate me. You can go out there and say anything you want about me. But you will love me later because I told you the truth.” ~ Mary J. Blige
I have encountered many people through the years who are compulsive liars. There are all sorts of problems with that. First of all, liars do not make good friends because you can never know whether what they are telling you is the truth. Second, an awful lot of work has to go into a lie. A liar has to remember every lie so that the liar can back the lie up with other lies. That takes a lot of energy out of a person.
Truth be told, I much prefer people who tell the truth, even if I do not like to hear it or do not want to hear it. At least I know what comes from their mouths is the truth and I can then decide how I want to deal with it.
Telling the truth is not the easiest thing in the world. There are many times that I cringe within myself because I know how what I say is going to be heard by another person. The truth is not always easy to say and it is not always readily accepted. I would rather have a person angry at me for telling the truth, though, than for lying to them. Lying gets a person no where.
God spoke the truth. All of His words are truth. Jesus even indicated that at His trial with Pilate and all Pilate could say was, “What is truth?” Pilate was speaking from his own perspective and from his own manner of living. He would speak “convenient truths”, better known as lies. He would speak whatever someone wanted to hear and do what he wanted anyway. Jesus, on the other hand, spoke the truth as it came to Him from God.
People do not like to hear the truth. They do not want to hear that they need to avoid temptation and sin. However, they need to hear that they are not going to live forever. They need to know that they are not the most important person in the world. They need to know when they are doing wrong and what they should do instead. Jesus told His people all of that and was hated by many, hated to the point of crucifixion.
Knowing that He would be hated, knowing that he would be rejected, knowing that he would be killed, Jesus spoke the truth. His contemporaries could hate Him if they wished, they could reject Him if they wished, they could kill Him if they wished. However, they would hear His words and be given the chance at any point in their lives to amend their ways, to repent of their sins, and to turn to the Lord.
They might even love Him later because He told them the truth.
FAITH ACTION: You will be confronted with many an opportunity to lie today. Do yourself a favor and tell the truth.