Lying Hurts

 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”   Exodus 20:16

         As I continue my youthful blogs, I want to talk about lying.  The Bible is clear that lying is a sin and is displeasing to God.  The first sin in this world involved a lie told to Eve.   "In the early church, Ananias and Sapphira lied regarding a donation in order to make themselves look more generous than they really were. Peter’s rebuke is stern: “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?”. God’s judgment was sterner: the couple died as a result of their sin of lying.   Jesus called Himself the way, the truth, and the life, and He expects those who follow Him to be people of truth. The truth is to be expressed in love, offering hope to those seeking redemption from the lies of the world. [gotquestions.org]

         "Satan continues his efforts to make sin less offensive, heaven less appealing, hell less horrific and the Gospel less urgent." - John MacArthur

            Yes, we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  I freely admit that I am a sinner and that includes my days of lying, as a teenager.  God knows all of our sinful ways and sometimes our parents find out about them too.  

             In 7th and 8th grade, I played the flute in band.  It wasn't my love or my talent.  I was supposed to practice a few times a week and record it in a chart.  One time, my parents had went out to dinner and when they came home, they asked "Did you practice your flute?'  I answered without any doubt, "Yes!"   My dad went back out to the car and brought my flute back into the house.  BUSTED!!  The lie I told was undeniable.  My parents told me how disappointed they were of me.  I felt ashamed and went to them asking for forgiveness.

             We should all repent of our sinful ways and ask for forgiveness from God.  Ephesians 1:7-8  "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us."  God has His arms open wide ready to welcome you into His kingdom with His free gift of salvation.

Appearance and The Truth of It

 1 Samuel 16:7

" The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

           The world is so quick to judge a book by it's cover or people by what they see.  "In ways we cannot understand, we reflect His own beauty. God places some value on appearances; if He did not, we would all look the same. It is not a wrong thing for us to notice and appreciate physical appearance as well."

            "Our outward appearance should not be our focus. If the reason we try to be the perfect weight, wear the best clothes, have facial treatments, etc., is to impress other people, then our physical appearance has become a matter of pride. We should be humbly aware of our appearance rather than acting to conform to the world’s standards. We must watch out for anything that draws us away from God, including the too-often extreme emphasis the world places on appearances.  God has shown us His own amazing power and beauty and love in an incredibly diverse creation. We should be humble, not committing idolatry in worshiping the creation rather than the Creator."  [gotquestions.org]

            As a teenager, I was a girly girl.  My focus was on both an inner and outer beauty of myself.  I didn't want to be in the popular crowd of girls who were pretty in the mirror, but were obviously ugly in their speech and attitude.  I am grateful that God looks at my heart because while it's not perfect, it is a caring and thoughtful one.  I know love because Jesus loved me first and I've seen it through Him.

            Oh, I spent plenty of time in front of the mirror growing up.  Blue eye shadow was my signature shade.  Straight hair with feathered bangs transformed into permed hair with perfectly teased bangs.  My obsession with the latest in-style jeans, usually Guess brand for me, was my mom's battle back then.  

            Matthew 23:12 ""For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."   When I got married, my beauty needs got humbled along with my bank account.  I was suddenly grateful for all the stuff I got at Walmart and The Dollar Store.  

            As I've gotten older, humility has come more from knowing who I am and whose I am than anything else.  My small size has been judged by people, as a person who needs a child's menu or no menu at all.  My wheelchair bound self has been judged as one who's never walked or been educated or had a life.  People think they are better than me just because of their current abilities, that I have lost.  Not knowing isn't better, but just ignorance.

          A mirage is an example of seeing and believing in something that's not true.  Don't make your vision of others like a mirage, find out the truth about them in whatever shape or form you see them in. 💚