Abraham Lied

 Sometimes we sin by giving in to the temptation to lie about something. We do this for a lot of reasons. At times, we are afraid of what someone might do to us, so we don't tell them the truth. Other times, we fear being punished for something we have done. It is always wrong to lie, and our lies always have consequences that affect other people, too.

Abraham journeyed to the land of Gerar with his family and livestock. (Genesis 20:2) He told the people there that his wife Sarah was his sister. The king heard about what he said, and he sent men to take Sarah to his home, planning to make her one of his wives. God confronted the king in anger because of Abraham's sin, and he sent Sarah back before anything was done.

We can lie in various ways. Sometimes, we just make something up that is not true to protect us, and we hope others don't find out it is false. Usually, they find out, and we get in trouble anyway. Like Abraham, at other times we tell a "half-truth." Sarah was his half-sister, but she was his wife, too. We must remember that a half-truth is always a whole lie. It is as bad or worse than other lies.

When we are found out to be liars, people get angry with us. They can't trust us after that experience either. It takes much time to rebuild that trust, too. Also, we need to remember that our lives can get other people in trouble, because they are acting on false information. If they get hurt, it is our fault, and we find we have broken relationships and hard feelings for a long time. Of course, God will punish us for lying, even if no one ever finds out what we did.

#NHBaptistdotorg

Tomorrow, I intend to read Genesis 21-23.