How to Hold to the Truth

We lie to the taxman (‘necessary expenses’), we lie to the doctor (‘just a couple of glasses a week’) and to the traffic police (‘What speed limit?’). People lie in politics, in sports, and in the media. We’ve become experts at lying – and no one’s surprised anymore.

The ninth commandment tackles the issue: ‘You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour’ (Exodus 20:16 NIV). Our use and abuse of truth affect our relationships with others. Lies are not simply wrong; they hurt people.

It’s hard to get to the truth about lying. Insurance companies now assume most claims involve some dishonesty. Tax losses to the government from ‘under-reported’ income run to billions, as do the figures for benefit fraud. But, of course, no one knows for certain.

The universal temptation to evade responsibility goes way back – as far as Adam and Eve! They disobeyed God and then blamed each other and the serpent when God confronted them.

In some ways neither Adam nor Eve were lying, but neither were they telling the truth. They certainly didn’t admit their fault and their guilt. And so it all starts – the great human trait of trying to duck responsibility. Blame it on someone else, something else, anything else but me.

The Bible repeatedly compares truth and falsehood with light and darkness. To face the truth is like moving from darkness to sunlight. And it can actually be quite liberating leaving the burden of living with lies behind and walking into the light.

Facing up to the truth means accepting responsibility for our guilt and our fallibility. It means admitting the things that we do wrong. It means that we have to avoid putting the defence of ourselves above everything. Telling the truth is costly and uncomfortable, and it goes against our deepest nature.

It doesn’t mean we should never have any secrets . . . some are good and valid ones: a surprise birthday party, our medical data, my email password!

But there are also ‘bad secrets’ that are unhealthy, and control and obsess us. For some people, things that happened in their past continue to cripple them. When such secrets are brought into the light, by the grace of God healing is often possible.

The ninth commandment reminds us that speaking is a serious matter. In our modern world, we treat words far too lightly. We need to be truthful in what we say for the health of our society, for our relationships and for ourselves. And we need to bring what we say before God, so that we may be known as trustworthy men and women whose words are both honest and fair.

St Paul’s advice to the church in Philippi is worth holding onto: ‘Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise’ (Philippians 4:8 NLT). Our thoughts and our words – then we’ll be well on the way to keeping the ninth commandment.