Friday, July 8, 2022

The Cost of Deception

 

Friday, July 8, 2022

O Lord, I give my life to you.  I trust in you, my God!  Do not let me be disgraced, or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat.  No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.  Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow.  Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me.  All day long I put my hope in you.  

Psalm 25:1-5

A member of the governing board of a church convinced the board to ask the pastor to resign.  The pastor responded to the board at the next meeting that God had called him to this church, and he did not sense his work was yet finished, so he would not resign.  The board member quickly replied:  Well, God may have brought you here, but we’re getting shed of you! 

Some stuff that is said may sound good.  Sometimes church leaders, pastors, board chairs, committees and members say things that may express what the majority of a group thinks, but that does not always mean they’ve found God’s will.  Sometimes they’ve only found a way to rationalize a decision that allows them to ignore God’s will, while still keeping the appearance that they’re spiritual.  The real issue is greed or control.  You can do that if you’re willing to parade lies as truth.  But there is a cost to doing it; the contention between the governing board and pastor of that church was 35 years ago. The churchbuilding is still standing today, but it is used for a community center now.[1]

Deception has always been common to the human condition.  Adam and Eve imagined to avoid contact with God after sinning.  Their son, Cain, tried to deflect God’s question about what Cain had done to his brother, Abel.  And, so-on throughout human history. 

In today’s culture the deception dance around truth has become something of an epidemic.  In business and politics you have the cliché expectant behavior, as in:  How can you tell if a politician is lying?  Answer:  His lips are moving.  But that which is cliché in the obvious public targets is now commonplace in families, friends, and even church.  

From whence cometh this devaluing of truth?  According to Jesus, it is the Prince of Darkness who pushes this behavior.  When the Pharisees were debating with Jesus about heritage and privilege, their obtuse attitude needed a little rebuking. 

For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning.  He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.  

John 8:44

Writing about this constant war between truth and deception many hundreds of years prior to the “conversation” Jesus had with the Pharisees, King David came to a conclusion that, no matter the cost, he would be led by truth, not lies.  It was not easy for David to make this switch from the lies and deception that had blackened his soul.  He had a history of convincing himself it was OK to steal another man’s wife, and conspire to kill her husband, and then cover it up, drawing others into the plot.  Truth would be a hard sell.  But his prayer in Psalm 25 was also a commitment:  All day long I put my hope in you.

For You Today

Today’s choices will include that inconvenient fork in the road:  truth or deception.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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To dig deeper into today’s topic or Scripture text:  Faith Finding the Path to Do Right and Lenten Walk - Part 2

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©  


[1] From a previous post, Parading Lies as Truth

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