“Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire?”
Fyodor Dostoevsky, the Russian novelist and short story writer, was a journalist who was regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature. Many of his works are considered highly influential masterpieces.
One of his quotes says, “The man who lies to himself and then listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect, he ceases to love.”
Compare this to the Bible, and you will find 1st John 2: 4-6:
“He who says I know Him (Jesus) and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
In other words, if we know Christ and are saved from our sins, then we strive to follow Him in all manners of behavior in this life.
We are not perfect, but we strive for His Will and His obedience in our lives through His Holy Word.
Dostoevsky was correct in that lying to oneself causes a man to not respect himself, and he can’t love.
Lying.
This is a paradox for some folks.
I mentioned this in a sermon I did years ago.
I named it, “Unmasking the Lone Ranger.”
Coming out from our hiding behind our lies etc. Taking off our masks of insecurity and pride, and then letting Jesus define who we really are in Him.
I quoted this in the sermon, “Since when did lies become color coded? It's a white lie, a green lie, and red lie. A lie is a lie. If it is not the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, it is a lie. Who wants to lie to himself, or herself, and walk away feeling remorse about their lies, which leads to guilt and shame? If we lie during tax time, there is a federal prison I have been in. PREACHING,” I said quickly.
Many do. It has become a way of life for some. It was for me in my early years.
I lied to myself back at twelve years old, when Mom abused me and my sister. I would say to myself, “Well, it is not that bad.”
Really? It was bad. It was really bad.
I lied to myself when my mother died from cancer in 1971; I was fifteen years old.
I said, “I hate her for the things she did to me and my sister. But I love her too.”
I lied to myself in trying to justify her behavior and that I had a love/hate relationship with a dying mother. This is why I got on drugs, to cover up my pain in my broken heart.
I lied to myself that I will never be an addict, and this drug and alcohol use is only for a little while.
Ha. Boy was I wrong.
Well, the little while turned into 7 years of putting a needle in my veins, almost daily, using Meth and other drugs.
It ended only when I went to prison.
Prison.
Wow.
Prison was not a lie.
It was the truth I had to deal with.
Maximum- Security Prison.
A home for the insane criminal.
Myself, along with 2,300 other young men. We were all between the ages of 18-22.
Horrible lie I bought back in 1974, thinking, “I can quit doing drugs anytime I want to.”
You did not get sent to the Ferguson Unit Prison I was in unless there was violence attached to your felony conviction.
Reality?
We were all full of demons and hatred for society and any authority.
Fact.
Lie, upon lie, upon lie.
“Round and round we go, when it stops, nobody knows.”
Well, God knows the end of your rope you hang on to.
He knows every thought you and I have, before we even think of any one of them.
Can’t fool a God like that.
Certainly, we would not want to lie about anything we do, knowing He hears everything and knows every thought in advance.
There is a psychological insight, though I would rather just quote scripture.
It is this.
A man who lies to himself eventually loses the ability to distinguish the truth.
Any truth.
This reinforces the notion that one’s actions of self-deception shape their reality. This psychological insight is really saying,
“Once a liar, always a liar. Once an addict, always an addict. Once a convict?”
Well, you see my point.
Until Jesus Christ is revealed to any person who is a habitual liar, or thief, or addict, nothing changes. It only grows worse.
Another case in point.
My Uncle.
He was the epitome of a liar.
He had a wife, two children at home, and two girlfriends on the side.
I watched him drive his 1974 Lincoln Continental as I sat in the passenger seat up front.
He would chew his nails constantly, and I could see his gears turning in his head.
I was out on the $250,000.00 bond for attempted murder and had to be with him 24/7. That was part of my bond, and the legal rules attached to me being out of jail for a season before my indictment for the felonies I committed.
I saw what I saw, and did not breathe a word to my dear Aunt, his wife.
His gears in his mind that were turning were attached to “How can I lie, and cover this lie, and do this lie, to protect my womanizing and lusts. How can I move this stolen car around Dallas, Texas (during this era I was with him) successfully and not get caught.”
It went much deeper than stolen cars. I am not at liberty to go into detail but let me just say I was “involved.”
I still had issues with addictions. I could not do the Meth I liked daily as I was facing court.
I did, however, drink beer frequently with my uncle, and he and I frequented some real “dives” called bars.
Sorted places with a “front” for my uncle and his illegal activities.
Going from one of his girlfriend's houses to another, then back home to his wife.
I look back on this life he lived, and that I was a small part of it, and realize I could have died doing what he was doing.
Only by God’s grace I survived these trips around the Dallas area, and Las Vegas.
I lied to myself, thinking I could face court with a clean record of being sober.
I lied to myself when my uncle and my lawyer convinced me that I needed probation rather than the prescribed 25 years- to- life sentence facing me at this time.
I lied, and lied, thinking probation was not doable.
Fact is, it was not.
This was not a lie at all.
I was telling myself I could not do probation as an addict and an attempted murderer.
I could not even shoot my pistol straight enough to kill my best friend. I failed at that too.
I was not in my right mind, but I also knew that I did not care if my friend lived or died.
Life and death meant nothing to me, a chief sinner that I was back then.
I knew, and only God knew back then, that I would never complete my two-year probation.
And the Lord Jesus knew that I would destroy the probated sentence with another attempted murder.
This time on a Police Officer.
See, lies never end when you and I are liars.
Oh, they can dissipate a bit. They can go from a full blown “red” lie to a green one and then down to a white one.
Color blind sinners that we are.
If we are liars, and the truth is not in us before we knew Christ, then how can we possibly lie once we become a Christian?
We do.
I have for various fearful reasons during my growing period in Jesus. We have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.
All means all.
Why does mankind lie, Christian or not?
It is simple.
We justify the truth.
We slide on the slippery slope of this justification. 1st John 2.
Remember?
“And the truth is not in us.”
“Jesus is the Truth. He is also the Way, and the Life.
No man comes to the Father except by Him.”
John 14:6
My uncle.
He would stop at a pay phone or at the bar behind the counter where the bartender hid the landline. (No cell phones back then).
I could hear him calling my aunt, his wife.
“Honey, I will be late again because I must go to the drug store and reset the school supply aisle tonight. Nephew Joe is going to help me.”
Yes. He was a salesman for a company in Dallas.
He was good at it.
The problem was, it was his front for all his illegal activities, including being a Man-whore, cheating on his wife.
He was not just cheating on one woman, his beloved wife. He was cheating on each of the two girlfriends.
I would hear him say, “I only love you.”
Lie again, Uncle.
Keep it up.
Well, before I went to prison, his marriage failed.
I wonder why.
Lies compounded.
Fingernails chewed up all the way down past the cuticle. He had to have surgery later when they found a small puss- filled pocket of fingernails in his stomach lining.
Human fingernails do not digest.
Sorry, you just lost your appetite.
It is called sin.
Rebellion.
Ignoring the God who loves us.
Running from all our problems, rather than facing them head on in repentance.
Christians know better.
I know better.
We all know better, because the Holy Ghost is like a “HOUNDDOG” from Heaven, sniffing us out and following our tracks and our track record in our walk with Him.
He is always waiting for us to repent. Always.
If we have breath in our lungs.
He never gives up on us. Never.
Do we lie to ourselves?
“Infidelity, (in my uncle’s case), does not exist in believing, nor in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe.
It is impossible to calculate moral mischief that mental lying has produced upon society.
(Quote by Thomas Paine).
Proverbs 12: 22-23…
“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight. A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims foolishness.”
I mastered foolishness, and so did my uncle.
He did get saved on his death bed.
He really did, and it was truly a transformation.
He could have gotten saved early on and lived a healthy Christian life. He made Heaven his home but wasted years like I did.
His former wife and children are Christians too, and the forgiveness in this family ran deep and wide as the Lord healed all that former pain.
Lying to yourself.
If you lie to others, you start by lying to yourself.
You say, “It is not really a lie, just a mistruth.”
In Christ, we can come under conviction and clean up our act.
We can live clean in an unclean world.
At least we can have integrity and let our life without lies be our barometer in how we deal with the world.
The world does not care if you lie.
You should care about telling the truth to the world around you. They may not like your truthful attitude.
What matters is that Jesus smiles down at us and says, “Well done. Keep going.”
1st Timothy 1: 9-11, includes liars among those who will be punished in the lake of fire.
