A Lie is Much More than Not Telling the Truth…

 

 ying never leads to anything good. We all know that not telling the truth is a lie, but I believe that lying is much more than that. I thought I would walk you through what lying really entails. You can then check yourself to see if you are a liar or if you are honest!
1.) Telling someone a fact about yourself that is not true (obviously): I would be lying if I told you…

• I am 30 (I am actually 26)
• I have a master’s degree (I only have a bachelor’s degree)
• I have 2 kids (I only have one.)
• I was born in California (I was born in Illinois.)

2.) You are lying when you exaggerate stories and add things in that are not true. Here are a few examples…

• I got to meet (insert famous person here) when you actually only saw them from far away.
• I got a promotion (when really you just got a pay raise like everyone else)
• My husband always get’s me flowers (when really he bought flowers for you twice.)

3.) You are lying when you don’t tell someone how you actually feel. This one is the absolute hardest for me. Here are some scenarios I have been in where it was hard to not lie. Examples:

• A friend asked me if I thought her boyfriend was a good match for her. In all honesty I didn’t think he was a good match because he didn’t share her faith, which is the most important thing for me.
• In college, a boy told me how much he liked me and he wanted to know how I felt about him. It was incredibly hard to tell him the truth because I only saw him as a friend. I didn’t want to hurt his feeling.
• I once had a friend ask if she looked like she had gained weight. I had noticed that she gained weight…but I simply replied, “You are beautiful!” I avoided answering her question…

4.) You are lying when you leave certain parts of the story out on purpose. This happens a lot when parents ask teenagers what they are doing. Example:

• When a husband says that he was at work (when he left work early to go and head over to another woman’s place.)
• When a teenager says he slept over at a friends house (when really he went to a concert he wasn’t supposed to go to and then slept over at a friends house)

5.) You are lying when you are hiding the truth/not keeping your promises. I believe you are lying when:

• You are lying to your spouse if you are cheating on them even if you have never verbally lied about what you are doing.
• You are lying if you told your parents you wouldn’t drink but you do it anyways.
• You are lying when go on facebook secretly at work when you should be working.

MY CHALLENGE! I have learned throughout the years that it is best to be as honest as possible. It’s easy to make excuses for why you are lying, but really you are just trying to make yourself feel better about it. I know that sometimes the truth hurts, but ultimately lying hurts more. I encourage you to be honest with people no matter how hard it is. If you are trapped in a lie right now…COME CLEAN! It will be hard in the beginning, but the freedom you feel later will be so much better. Lies always catch up with you at some point. Do you best to be kind and loving BUT always honest.