SCRIPTURE: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12 (KJV)
QUOTE: “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you. -Friedrich Nietzsche
NOTE:
When a leader operates in lies and the people around him begin, their trust in his leadership will surely and steadily be affected. The credibility of what he say may begin to be questioned. Every man in leadership if not extremely watchful and careful may into an unconscious act of lying in order to please their followers or keep up a false image of himself when he too notices that his followership has began to reduce.
However this is simply a weakness in leadership and must be confronted headlong to avoid piling up lies to build a system that cannot withstand the test of time. A lie is something falsely said with the intention to deceive. To tell a lie is to avoid telling the truth. This is done by saying something completely untrue, or by fudging the truth. Different kinds of lies are: fabrications, ‘white lies’, exaggerations, ‘bold faced lies’ and rumor mongering.
ILLUSTRATION:
The leadership system of the first man and woman on earth failed due to lying. As part of the creation story, did you know that the first sin mentioned in Genesis 3 was the sin of lying orchestrated by the devil, and that it was even before the sin of eating from the tree of life committed by Adam? When Satan came to Eve and asked Eve, ‘Has God said, ‘You shouldn’t eat of any of these trees? And the woman said, ‘Well, God has said, ‘If you eat from this tree, which is in the middle of the garden, you will die.” Guess what, the Serpent said, ‘You shall not die.’
That was a lie. It was the first lie and the first sin mentioned in the Scriptures; you shall not die, meaning you can disobey God but you will not be punished for it.
REFLECTION:
- How have handled Christ’s advice of ‘let your nay be your nay and your yes be your yes.
- Have you considered the various reasons people lie?
TWO YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 2 Samuel 10 – 11, Proverbs 24: 23 – 34