I said in my haste, All men are liars. Psalm 116:11
Has your mother ever told you a lie? I can’t remember my mother ever telling me a lie. But I have to admit she is capable of doing it. And you have to admit the same. We know some people who are hopeless liars; their word on any topic is always suspect. We know others who we can trust completely, because we know they would never deceive us. And in between, there are folks that we treat with varying degrees of trust. We can see how the psalmist would utter this cynical expression that everybody is a liar. But if we look into the Word of God, we can see how this expression could have been uttered only in haste and not upon consideration of the God of the Bible. Scripture makes it plain that God cannot lie. Because we know that Jesus is God, we also conclude that Jesus could never tell a lie. And He did not, despite our frustration with the rest of humanity; there was One Whose words were faithful and true.
There are other people whose words should also be faithful and true. I am referring to Christians. If we are to be Christ-like, we are to be truth-tellers. If we are liars, we are not being Christ-like. We all fail in this, although it should not be the pattern of any Christian’s conversation to be untruthful. Just as we appreciate our Lord for His faithful. honesty, so we should be able to appreciate our fellow believers for their faithful honesty. And they should be able to so appreciate us. A Christian who is known for telling lies is a poor testimony. A Christian who is known for telling the truth is a good testimony.
We can excuse the unsaved folks around us for playing fast and loose with their facts. For many of them, it’s no big deal. They don’t understand the consequences. Sadly, they are sceptical about everybody else, even those who would present them with the Gospel. Judging others by themselves, they assume there is no absolute truth. That is why it is so important for us to be honest at all times. If we give the unsaved an example of the truth, they can more readily accept that the Gospel is true. If we give them a poor example of the truth, we have little reason to expect them to accept the Gospel from us.
Are all men liars? Do we give people a reason for believing so? -Jim MacIntosh