As I watched the evening news last night and the skilled manner in which the politicians spun the truth, I thought of the words of Jesus and Solomon:

• John 8:32: You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
• Proverbs 12:17: Truthful witness by a good person clears the air, but liars lay down a smoke screen of deceit. ~ The Message

If the truth will make you free, can you make the assumption that a life of habitual deceitfulness leads to bondage?  To be free, you need to have the courage to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

Some people have lived a life characterized by manipulation and deceit to the point that they wouldn’t recognize truth if it appeared to them as their firstborn child.  To help you recognize it and understand it, take note of a quote or two:

• G.K. Chesterton: “Right is right even if nobody does it. Wrong is wrong even if everybody is wrong about it.”
• George Orwell: “In a time of universal deceit — telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
• Albert Einstein:  “Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.”
• Augustine: “The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.”

I’m not sure if Billy Graham had Martin Luther King, Jr in mind when he made the statement above, or if King was thinking of Graham; but the two of them made complimentary statements:

• Billy Graham: “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.”
• Martin Luther King, Jr: “Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency ask the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But, conscience ask the question, is it right? And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.”

I’ll close with Psalm 85:10 from The Message: “Love and Truth meet in the street, Right Living and Whole Living embrace and kiss! Truth sprouts green from the ground, Right Living pours down from the skies! Oh yes! God gives Goodness and Beauty; our land responds with Bounty and Blessing. Right Living strides out before him, and clears a path for his passage.”