It is a paradox that truth can be difficult to say and difficult to believe. The more truthful you are the less impressed people may become. The more you try to be truthful the more people disbelieve you.
Despite being honest and trying hard to maintain an honest stance, circumstances can ruffle the wind of life and disturb the environment. No matter your effort to be truthful you will find yourself wading through circumstances that make you helpless to the point of losing hope and wanting to succumb.
Circumstances can test your integrity, putting your integrity into question despite you being truthful. Your resolve will be tested to the point of almost succumbing to pressures. You will hear negative voices suggesting to you to bend the truth a little and do what others do in similar circumstances. But you will also hear the still voice of God encouraging you to press on, to continue to have faith in God, and not yield to the pressures of the negative voices. Your resolve will keep you on the path of righteousness.
Integrity insists that you speak the truth always even when situations urge you to do otherwise.
Then the paradox hits you as the people you want to impress become cynical. The more you try to be truthful, the less impressed they are.
Truth can be hard to speak sometimes, or most at times. But integrity still demands you tell the truth always. While negative voices insist that you succumb to lies, you will hear the still voice of God (or your conscience) stressing that you remain truthful). Negative voices will be stressing that you succumb and tell a lie to please hearers. But you must not yield to the pressures to lie. You must remain truthful.
It is a paradox that people doubt you when you are speaking the truth.
Negative voices will suggest that you say what people want to hear. The pressures of the negative voices will be dousing your faith to make you waver so that you won’t be able to hold on to integrity. But despite the pressures of the negative voices, you must remain defiant and be truthful.
The paradox will hit you harder as the people that you are trying to impress with your truth become more cynical. And you see yourself betwixt telling the truth and telling a lie. Many people, sadly, will tell what they claim is ‘a small or soft lie’ to please the people.
However, there is no small or soft lie and there is no big or hard lie. A lie is a lie. God abhors all lies. The Bible states categorically that liars shall not inherit God’s Kingdom, (Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:15).
Every lie robs part of our integrity and bruises our souls before God. Every lie taints us before God and makes us lose part of our true selves.
The Christian Church does not experience many miracles presently because of contamination. Untruths have contaminated many Christians. Otherwise, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus is still performing signs and wonders. But sins, lies, have contaminated truth and holiness in the Church. Therefore, the Holy Spirit does not function freely as He should. The Christian environment is flooded with untruths. These interfere with the free flow of the Holy Spirit among Christians
God’s Spirit operates freely when the atmosphere is not contaminated with lies, and when people live holy or righteous lives. Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:15-16,“But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy,’” (ESV).
Hebrews 10:36 tells us that we need endurance, so that when we have done the will of God we may receive what is promised, (ESV)
It is always right to tell the truth even when people think you are lying. It is always right to tell the truth even at the expense of people calling you a fool.
Sometimes, you know that the truth you are telling is hard for people to believe. Yet you must maintain your integrity. You may even have to sacrifice to do that.
You may be doing your best and helping people with all your heart, mind, and soul. But the same people that you are sacrificing your time and life helping can impugn your integrity.
Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt. They were in bondage and cried for a deliverer. God sent Moses to help them out. They were glad when Moses come to deliver them. They saw Moses as a hero.
No one compelled them to follow Moses out. They wanted to go out of bondage. And they jubilated as they went out with Moses.
While everything was okay, Moses was the hero. Everyone loved and praised Moses. He was the greatest and most honest leader.
But as soon as they smelt trouble, they quickly turned against Moses. They accused Moses of being the reason for their plight. They said, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt, so you have brought us here to die in the wilderness?”
Moses who was the hero some days earlier had now become a villain, a scoundrel, an evil person. He was now the person to blame for their misfortune. Moses was no longer seen as the truthful person leading them out from bondage into freedom.
They said to Moses, “Is it not what we told you in Egypt, saying ‘let us alone so that we may be slaves to the Egyptians?’ It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians as slaves than for us to die in the wilderness.”
It pains when people disbelieve you or blame you for what you have not done. It pains to be regarded as a liar when you are telling the truth.
In a situation like that, you might want to try and convince them to believe what you are saying. But the more you try to explain, the more they are convinced that you are lying.
You find yourself in the middle of brutal circumstances and your integrity is at stake.
Remain calm despite the unfair criticism they hurl at you. Try not to be emotional. It will not be easy. But with prayer and faith in God, you can do it.
Most people are full of emotion, bristling with prejudices, and motivated by pride and vanity. No matter how sincere you are, you will find some people who will see you in bad light.
Moses had a genuine intention, but the people were not seeing that.
Using logic and facts to argue with people who are controlled by their emotions will be futile. Angry and suspicious people don’t want logic. So, Moses did not waste his time arguing and trying to convince them to believe him. The emotional person is not in the mood to listen. He or she only wants to share his or her feelings.
When people accuse you, turn to God, and pray for courage and wisdom. God will give you wisdom.
Moses turned to God and God told him to stretch the rod he was holding over the Red Sea. He obeyed and God made the winds to part the sea in two. God will always provide the miracle you need. Trust God and remain truthful always.
God will always provide the solution to your difficult problems. And will also prove your integrity.
The law of life is also the law of belief. We demonstrate what we believe. People who look at circumstances and believe they are helpless will remain at a standstill in life. What we sow in our hearts will be what we reap. If you sow thoughts of fear, sickness, enmity, and hate, you shall reap the same in abundance. The law of harvesting gives more of what we sow. Therefore, those who sow thoughts of greatness, prosperity, and health reap the same abundantly.
Maintain the vision of what you want to be. Stop whining. Maintain your integrity, no matter what situation you find yourself in.
Be truthful to yourself and God. Let your integrity be transparent even when people doubt you. If you remain true to God, He will make your integrity shine for the doubters to see.
Remember that each of us will give an account of himself or herself to God (Romans 14:12). Do what is right always and leave the rest to God.
There will be times when you would feel that the load is too heavy to bear. Even then, it would be right not to give up. Be truthful always.
You might be blamed for situations that you have no control over. When things are good, and everyone is happy, people will call you an angel. But when there is a problem, people blame you for what is even their fault.
If the Spirit of God indwells you, He will produce compassion and forgiveness in you despite the ingratitude people hurl at you.
The paradox of truth is that the more you try to be truthful, the less impressed people are. The more truthful you are the more people may disbelieve you.
Truth can be difficult to say and also difficult to believe. But you must remain faithful to God and truthful in all that you do.
“If we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13; ESV).
Have a good conscience, even when people speak negatively of you.
“For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 3:17; ESV)
Maintain an honest conduct always, that whereas people speak negatively against you, they may, by your good works, which they behold, glorify God, (1 Peter 2:12).
Be morally right in everything you do or say even when dishonesty appears enticing.
Many people believe lies easily. And you may be lured to play along and lie to please them. But remember that God, the Almighty Judge, is aware of what you do or say, and He records everything.
It is difficult to predict life. Anything can happen. And when the unexpected happens, some people may want to lie as the easy route out.
But even when the truth hurts, and nobody seems to believe you, God still expects you to be truthful. So, be honest and trust God to take care of the consequences.
In 1 Peter 5:7, we are advised to cast all our cares upon God, for He cares for us.
Be assured that when the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit, (Psalms 34:17-18; ESV).
Walter Darby Bannard intimated that “The problem with truth is that it is hard to believe. It is even harder to get other people to believe.”
And Os Guinness said, “Truth is true even if nobody believes it and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it.”
People may not believe you because they base their acceptance of truth on their personal opinions and feelings.
Proverbs 19:1 tells us, “Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool,” (ESV).
Philippians 4:8 advises us, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things,” (ESV).
Lies will shield you temporarily. You may hide in the dark, doing negative things and lying, but one day, there will be an exposure. The exposure can be devastating. The exposure will remove the mask covering your true nature and erase all the false glories you were basking in. And your shame will be unbearable.
Jeff Olson said, “Time will be your friend or your enemy; it will promote you or expose you.”
Untruth will make you lose your relationship with God, the Almighty Creator and Judge. When you are unmasked, you will see that the lies that covered you were not worthy. Lies will make you a despicable person.
Telling the truth is not always easy. Therefore, many people do not speak the truth.
People may tell lies to make themselves appear important. They lie or wear masks to hide their true selves and appear to be what they are not.
People may lie when they want to win a debate or argument.
The Bible advises us to put away our former corrupt ways of life and be renewed in the spirit of our minds, (be made new in the attitude of our minds), put on the new person, or the new character of righteousness and true holiness, and stop lying to each other, (Ephesians 4:22-25).
People lie to please others even when they know that what they are saying is not true. Politicians are full of grandeur promises when they go to the electorate for votes. They say anything that will convince the electorate to vote for them.
After they win power, they come back to the electorate with excuses to explain why they can’t fulfill their campaign promises. They lament that the period of their mandate is too short and inadequate to allow them to achieve their monumental visions. That the period is too short for them to fulfill the fantastic and gigantic promises they made.
They were aware of those shortcomings when they were on the campaign trail, yet they made those grandeur promises.
Nikita Khrushchev was right when he said, “Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers.”
Though lies can be enticing, learn to tell the truth always. Because that defines who you are.
Thomas Jefferson said, “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”
Remember that the Almighty God, the Creator, and final Judge, abhors lying lips. “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight.” (Proverbs 12:22; ESV)
Some Christians exaggerate what God is doing in their lives. They compete with each other and tell all manner of exaggerated lies to project themselves highly. Such people succeed in deceiving people because, as Ralf Waldo Emerson said, “People only see what they are prepared to see.”
Francis Bacon also said, “Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.”
Though people may prefer lies to truth, the child of God must remember that God hates lies. Moreover, since we shall all stand before the Great Judge on Judgment Day, to give an account of ourselves to God, (Romans 14:12), stay with the truth till you meet the Great Judge. God will render to every person according to his or her deeds, (Matthew 16:27; Romans 2:6; 2 Corinthians 5:10).
Even when people disbelieve you, continue being truthful. And like Joseph was vindicated and promoted to a high position in Egypt, the day will come when God vindicates you and lifts you.
So, finally, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil, (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; KJV).