Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God? With left hand on the Bible and right hand raised to God, you used to have to answer that question before your testimony could be heard in a court of law. As Christians, we are testifying constantly even when we are unaware of it, so it is vital that we are always able to answer that question with a confident, “I do!”
Trust is the basis of every good relationship and honesty and truthfulness are at the foundation of trust. However, being truthful isn’t always easy. Sometimes you know your truthful answer is not what that person wants to hear. One of my favorite commercials shows Mrs. Lincoln asking Honest Abe, “Does this dress make me look fat?” leaving Abraham Lincoln at a complete loss for words. It is funny because most of us have found ourselves in that type of situation at some time in our lives.
Being truthful requires proper attitude and motivation. Truth should never be used to impress or lord it over someone and truth should always be tempered with kindness. Some people like to use the “brutal truth” as a club to beat up someone instead of to inform and help them. Before speaking the truth we should ask ourselves two questions. Is it useful? Is it kind? If the answer to either of those questions is no, then it is better to remain silent than to bore someone with truth that is not relevant or deliberately hurt them for no good reason.
It is also extremely important for us to make absolutely sure we know the truth before we speak. The psalmist prayed, “Keep me from lying to myself.” (Psalms 119:29) A person who sincerely believes lies and repeats them as truth is much more dangerous than a purposeful liar.
As believers, we have a definite advantage when it comes to being truthful. Jesus said, “When the spirit of truth comes he will guide you in all truth.” (John 16:13) When we put our faith in Jesus for our salvation, the Holy Spirit dwells in us. John wrote, “because the truth lives in us and will be with us forever.” (2 John 1:2) With that strong support, truthfulness should be natural for us but we need to study God’s word, have daily prayer time and be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit within us. His spirit will not only give us the truth to speak, but will show us how to speak it with love and compassion. The best part of all of this is that as we become familiar with the truths of God we will also be able to recognize the lies of the enemy.