There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:…a lying tongue… Proverbs 6:17

Many lies we tell are subtle and insidious In fact, we deceive ourselves by saying that if we could help it, we wouldn’t tell lies at all. Well, we can help it; we just choose otherwise. Often we do it to get ahead or to avoid embarrassment. But, I go back to this verse: it’s detestable in the LORD’s eyes. That’s a pretty strong statement.

Many years ago I was playing a board game. There were two couples and the Men teamed up against the Ladies. I saw an opportunity to get ahead by deceptive means, and my partner saw what I was doing, and was stunned when I actually followed through with my deception (to our advantage, of course). To this day I remember the look of disbelief on his face when he had realized what I had done.

You see, it was a game, and we might have even won but I really don’t remember if we did or not. And in the end, did it matter if we had lost or won? Not at all.

I use that simple and harmless illustration to point out that cheating (a form of lying) is so prevalent in our society that we can easily slip into it almost without thinking. The fact that I remember that one incident a dozen years later should remind me that gaining advantage by deceptive means even in a harmless board game is wrong.