Ordinary Moments – Feb 16

Steven PutmanLiturgy

Don’t Live a Lie

One day, my son was explaining to his mother that he felt she had lied to him. It was nothing very important, but he wanted to take this opportunity to share how important telling the truth is to him. He explained that he simply tells it like it is in all aspects of his life. But an hour later, we caught him in a lie! Again, it was not about a matter of life and death, but it was a lie. When confronted with his own previous words on how important the telling the truth was to him, he just smiled. Yes, the guilty often have no words of defense.

Jesus said it best in Matthew 5: “Let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’” He was warning his disciples about false oaths and then instructing them on the fullness of the Hebrew laws. We may try to do what we say and say what we mean, but it can be all too easy to fall short. We call ourselves disciples yet provide evidence to the contrary buy our actions (or lack of them).

Even if we feel that we have lied to no one, we may have lied to ourselves. We portray ourselves as generous, thankful, and loving people, yet fail to answer God’s call in a situation because we perceive the cost to be too great. Jesus did not simply mean for his message to be about two words. He also meant that when you say you are a disciple, make sure you are a disciple as well.

— Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS