Liar, liar, pants on fire

YOU ARE A LIAR! If you happen to be on the receiving end of this, it's easy to be offended. However, the embarrassment seems to fade when you realise many persons, at one time or another, wear the 'badge' of being a liar. For some, it's more than a badge, it has become a three-piece suit.

Why is lying so rampant among us? It can be argued that it's in our genes. We see in Genesis the third chapter from verses one to six where our fore parents listened to the father of lies, believed his lies and ultimately became practitioners of the art of lying.

When we believe lies, we tell lies. And when we see lying become the norm at work, in relationships, and throughout life, we decide that we have to lie to keep up, and if we’re very good at it, it just might help us to get ahead.

Here is the other thing about lying, it has a compounding effect. Tell one lie, you often have to tell another one to cover that

OCTOPEN

KENYATTA E. LEWIS

Kenyatta Lewis is the pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, a growing church committed to taking followers of Jesus deeper and going further in their faith. Besides loving, serving, and helping people he has watched the extended Director’s cut of the Lord of the Rings trilogy multiple times.

lie, especially if you have a bad memory. Do it often enough, and sure enough, you will reap the negative effects of it.

Over time, our belief system becomes shaped by the lies we tell and the ones we believe. How does this affect our relationship with God?

We do not see God for who he is, and we do not believe what his word says about us. Consistently believe the wrong thing about God, and you are more inclined to have a disconnected perception of yourself.

Believe a lie about who you are and you will struggle to see success, failure, friendship, work, and a host of other things, in the right way. Here is an example. If you believe the lie that you have to be perfect, it would lead to overworking at your job, feeling unfulfilled, unforgiveness in your relationships, and unhealthy pride in your accomplishments. Believe in the lie that no one loves you, and you will become a people pleaser or a people hater. Believe you are not good enough and you become a perfectionist and discontented. This is a short list, there are many other lies out there that need exposing and uprooting.

The only way to deal with our proclivity to lie is to counteract it with truth, God’s truth. That means when you hear or repeat to yourself the lie that you are unlovable, counteract with the truth that God loves you, so much that Jesus died in your place so you do not have to deal with the repercussions of your faulty decisions.

When the lie that you have to be perfect comes knocking, answer it with the truth that God is the source of your strength, and without him, you can do nothing. God’s truth destroys the lies we believe. Listen to the truth, speak it, believe it, and be free.

Now that we have taken the first steps in resetting our lives, and destroying the lies, we are excited to see what lies ahead!

But remember this, YOU ARE LOVED.