Today's Devotional

 

March 26, 2008

                                                                                         

Subject:  Does Truth Really Matter?

Proverbs 12:19 "The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment."

Proverbs 20:28  "Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy."

 

---

The latest flap in the city of Detroit is about whether or not false statements in a civil trial should come under prosecution for perjury as a separate offense.  In other words, should you be able to lie in a courtroom without any further consequences.  The statement by the prosecutor bringing the charges against the mayor of the city stated that the entire judicial system is set up based on truth and the court's requirement that lying not be tolerated.  Opponents said, that what happened in the civil trial, where the mayor and the city settled to the sum of eight million dollars, is a "personal matter."

Well that's where we're headed.  But as believers, we know better.  Lying is never a personal matter and especially not so for those in positions of authority.  

That's what the Proverbs passage above is talking about.  Everybody quotes or misquotes that verse that says, "the truth will set you free."  They should end that verse with the words, "if you know it and use it." 

Not only is our court system built on truth, but our very lives depend on it.  When truth in any form breaks down, you have the very worst of a society, from families to all other institutions.  

Today "the" truth matters.  Not just your truth or what you believe to be true, but His truth and He always knows "the truth," whether we tell it or not, but as the verse says, the lie will only last a moment.  We may as well tell the truth now. 

  

Carlen