"For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour."
Isaiah 63:8
This verse is talking about the Lord's relationship with the Children of Israel, and the interesting thing to me here is that it specifically calls out lying, as though that was the pivotal difference between them and other people... and maybe it was. It's an interesting thought, at least, and makes sense to me because of the whole idea of God = truth that we read about elsewhere in the scriptures. In fact, the Holy Ghost seems to often be referred to as the "Spirit of Truth." So, anything untruthful likely drives away that spirit, and thus drives us away from God.
This idea seems to be very much at odds with our modern world though. We basically eat lies for breakfast. Immense, destructive lies are excused as normal, and people who don't lie are often looked at as aberrant. No wonder, then, that God thinks that honesty is such a big deal--that he would choose a people that would not lie.
Today, let's work on being the people that God still chooses. Let's be a force for good in the world by always telling the truth--not in a hurtful way, or as an excuse for bad behavior, but kindly and openly learning to be the kind of people that don't *need* to lie, because we don't talk about people in an unkind way, or make choices where a lie would make or break a relationship. Let's learn to be real with other people and not pretend always to be perfect... but let's honestly "speak one with another concerning the welfare of [our] souls" (Moroni 6:5). Let's embrace the truth of God, and choose him as our Savior.
Isaiah 63:8
This verse is talking about the Lord's relationship with the Children of Israel, and the interesting thing to me here is that it specifically calls out lying, as though that was the pivotal difference between them and other people... and maybe it was. It's an interesting thought, at least, and makes sense to me because of the whole idea of God = truth that we read about elsewhere in the scriptures. In fact, the Holy Ghost seems to often be referred to as the "Spirit of Truth." So, anything untruthful likely drives away that spirit, and thus drives us away from God.
This idea seems to be very much at odds with our modern world though. We basically eat lies for breakfast. Immense, destructive lies are excused as normal, and people who don't lie are often looked at as aberrant. No wonder, then, that God thinks that honesty is such a big deal--that he would choose a people that would not lie.
Today, let's work on being the people that God still chooses. Let's be a force for good in the world by always telling the truth--not in a hurtful way, or as an excuse for bad behavior, but kindly and openly learning to be the kind of people that don't *need* to lie, because we don't talk about people in an unkind way, or make choices where a lie would make or break a relationship. Let's learn to be real with other people and not pretend always to be perfect... but let's honestly "speak one with another concerning the welfare of [our] souls" (Moroni 6:5). Let's embrace the truth of God, and choose him as our Savior.
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