BE True and Being TRUE

“WHAT IS TRUTH?” Pontius Pilate asked Jesus. (John 18:38)

Is it ever right to tell a lie? Have you ever noticed that, when we gain from a lie, a little white lie, a half truth, letting someone draw a wrong conclusion by our silence, we have no problem with it? But, when we are deceived and misled, and arrive at false conclusions because of half-truths, white lies, and silent innuendoes, we are incensed! Still, it is difficult for us to accept, let alone live by, this blanket statement: “Always tell the truth! Never tell a lie!” Why is this principle so difficult to embrace and practice?

We readily excuse unintentional miss-information. A distinction is made between a spoken falsehood and an outright lie. A person may say something false believing that he is in fact speaking truth. Carl testified that the car was black. Later he finds that it was dark navy blue, which appears to be black at night. Carl is not guilty of perjury. He was simply mistaken. We can perceive things wrongly, understand things incorrectly, and confuse the facts. But we are not guilty of deceit, even if our “mistake” has dire consequences.

Obviously it is always better to “get it right” than to “get it wrong” in order to avoid “dire consequences”: the man drove off the cliff thinking that the bridge had been repaired and reopened; he was mistaken. This is why it is not only important to be able to “trust our own senses” but to also be able to trust the information (the facts, reality, or truth statements) that others give us.

“I am the way, the truth, and the Life,” said Jesus. (John 14:6) We, who follow Him, must also be a people of truth. But what does it look like to be a people of truth?

1st, being true is being authentic: genuine, not deceiving or misleading, as in the old saying, “what you see is what you get,” and as in, “say what you mean and mean what you say.” Manipulating the affection of others by pretending to be hurt, commanding a greater following by scandalizing the character of one’s rival, gaining a higher status by pretending to “know more” than one really knows, withholding pertinent information in order to gain the upper hand, or not stating one’s honest opinion or actual likes & dislikes, in order to appear congenial, these are all examples of being inauthentic and disingenuous. People of truth are always genuine, authentic, and suitably forthright, an “open book”: healthily, respectfully, and appropriately transparent to themselves and to others.

2nd, being true seeks to understand; seeks to see the “big picture.” E.g., we learn to distinguish between apparent bad behavior and the intent behind it. While hopping rocks, crossing a stream, Stan deliberately pushes Rich into the icy cold water. Rich gets a deep cut on his forehead from the fall. Stan’s motive: a venomous snake, hidden behind the rock, was just about to strike Rich with a deadly bite. Stan saved Rich’s life! Life is complicated. Things are not always as they seem. What looks good outwardly may actually be quite foul. What appears disgusting at first may actually be quite pleasing in the end. People of truth learn to dig beneath the surface, not easily fooled by all that glitters or taken-in by fast slogans, simplistic one-liners, and double-speak, or by emotional catch-words, frilly packaging, and prejudicial stereotypes. We learn to see things from all sides and all angles, especially in terms of purpose, motive, intent, values, and hidden assumptions.

3rd, people of truth line up their behavior and actions with stated beliefs and convictions, as much as is humanly possible. We say that God is first in our lives. We therefore live a life that actually puts God first in our life’s priorities. We say we believe in prayer, we therefore purposefully develop a prayerful life. We say we are followers of Jesus, we therefore learn to actually do what we believe Jesus commands us to do. In short people of truth aspire to a unity of word with action, a consistency of behavior with belief. We do what we think and act as we believe.

The majority of the time that we act inconsistently with what we believe, or avoid doing and saying the truth, is caused by our fear of bad consequences as a result of so doing: “Hi dear, what do you think of my new hat?” says the wife. “If I tell her the truth, I’ll be in big trouble. So, I’ll have to lie; after all I’m thinking of her feelings,” thinks the husband to himself.

The lie is on both sides: (1) she obviously doesn’t want the truth, when she asks, “What do you think of my new hat,” if in fact she’s ready to throw a fit, pout, cry, and emotionally hijack the situation for hearing what she does not want to hear from him. (2) He is not really showing concern for her feelings if his real motive is to avoid a bad reaction or a fight. In the end neither one gains from the lie they have both tossed at each other. In fact, they both become losers. Truth actually helps people come closer, but not without first requiring the hard work of facing its painful, yet redeeming, reality. The truth may hurt but it also sets free. For example, in an ideal world of truth-telling, the woman with the new hat might have actually asked the question this way: “I am feeling terribly insecure about my appearance; I bought this new hat in the hopes that I will look better and feel better about myself; but the truth is, I want some attention and I am hoping that this hat will bring me the attention I’m longing for. Do you think it works?” His truthful answer might have been: “Ah, yes, I have been neglecting you, haven’t I? Lately I’ve been off in my own world. You probably feel like a wallflower, unnoticed and uncared for. I am sorry. Yes, the hat does draw attention to you, but perhaps not the kind you really need or want. Let’s sit down and talk about our relationship and how we can bring back the spark we used to have for each other…. Being True requires open honesty, vulnerability, and real self understanding.


“Building Truth Muscles” (from The Market Place, Jan/Feb, 2008; p. 4):

Telling the truth may be one of the most persistent bugaboos of business. It’s a habit that can be built up, like a muscle.It’s not only good Christian behavior, it’s also good business, says Ken Byler of Higher Ground Consulting Group in Souderton, PA.Byler led a seminar on Truth-telling: The Hidden Profit Booster at MEDA’s Business as a Calling convention in Toronto, Nov. 2.

He outlined steps toward making honesty a workplace habit.
· Write a list of positive things you believe could happen if you tell the truth; write a second list of positive things you believe could happen if you withhold the truth.
· List the possible negative consequences of telling the truth and of withholding the truth.
· Review your lists and rate the likelihood of each thing happening.
· Name who or what is being protected if you don’t tell the truth (you, family, boss, co-worker, project).
· What harm will likely occur to whomever or whatever you are trying to protect if you do not tell the truth?
· If you choose not to tell the truth, what will you need to do to assuage your conscience?· By telling the truth in even the smallest things “you get practice which can pay off when telling the truth is really hard,” he said.