Dishonesty will come to light some time or another. Yes, our wrong deeds are forgiven, and that is wonderful, but in a way, wrong deeds always come to light.

I still remember when my friends and I were ten years old and decided to try smoking. We got some money together and bought a packet of cigarettes. (It was a packet of ten cigarettes.) Lexington of all brands. Twenty volts strong. We took our first puffs in a thick hedge. Obvisouly, with a lot of couching and eyes watering.

Maybe nobody would ever have found out about these shenanigans, but we managed to set the hedge on fire. We got such a fright and ran around looking for water to put out the fire. Eventually, I fetched my dad’s small plastic watering can that he used for his bonsai trees. But when I saw how little water it held, I threw the watering can into the fire. I don’t know what I was thinking.

Eventually someone came to help us. My dad’s questioning started at the loss of his watering can. Before long he came to the cause of all that had gone wrong: the package of shame.

My friends and I didn’t mind my dad finding out about the fire. We would take our hiding like men. To replace the watering can we would easily work in the garden for few Saturdays. But we didn’t want him to find out about that package of shame. But my dad could always dig out to the root of the evil. What a hiding we got!

The hole in the hedge never disappeared. When I walked past it, I would say out loud: Deception will always come to light …

Therefore: ¹⁰… Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe.

It’s not easy. It’s as if it’s our default to give the truth a twist or two. Yes, we are born and received in sin. We are automatically reset to factory settings and before we know it, the truth is out of the door.

We must build walls to prevent this. We must take off and throw away our dirty clothes so that we can never put them on again. And in everything, we must be a 100% sure that we speak and do the truth. That is the only true road, because the road of untruths and half truths is a road of self-destruction.

May God help us to speak the truth in all circumstances even if it hurts and even if we think it is easier not to. Let people know us as people whose word is true.

Scripture

Colossians 3:9-11

Reflection

How often is lying part of you life?

What can you do to speak the whole truth in everything you do?

Are you ready to take off and throw away your dirty clothes?

Prayer

Lord, please help me to speak the truth in everything. The whole truth. Amen.