The Truth is Out There

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How it Began

The phone rang. I don't know why I picked it up. I was only six. I wasn't allowed to answer the phone, but everyone was outside, and I knew--somehow I just knew-- my mom was on the other side of that phone. It would be her.

It was. My parents had been divorced for a year, and this was the first call I had gotten from her. I tucked into myself a little. Afraid of getting caught on the phone, I whispered. When my Dad walked around the corner and saw me there- little hands gripping the phone for dear life- he asked me who it was on the line. Then it happened. 

~ I lied. 

It was the first lie I ever remember telling. He knew it was a lie the minute it left my lips. It began a pattern that followed me the rest of my life. One I still fight today. 

Over the years I have lied about many things. Some big, some small. Some lies were told to stay out of trouble, while others were told to fit in. Some lies are by omission. Some were told just because, and some were told so many times that they became my "back story"... a part of my history. Ingrained into me as if they were the truth. 

Danger! 

Big lies or small, they are all dangerous. Pervasive like a black crawling death lies creep in and begin to choke the life out of you. They box us in and weigh us down. They pull at us, and create gut wrenching fear and anxiety. They are the problem, not the solution. 

Big or small though, there are some lies that are more dangerous than others. The lies we tell others are bad. "No, you look great in that dress" is not always the truth, but the lies that are more dangerous than anything are the lies we tell ourselves. 

Those lies leave us debilitated and crippled. Those lies leave us feeling inadequate and isolated. Those lies, if exposed, would be seen for the insidious things they are: harbingers of death, because they come from the enemy: the father of all lies. 

"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44 ESV

Peeling Back the Onion 

There are ten lies I have told myself for a long time. I have believed them. Somehow, someway, they were told to me once and I claimed them as my own. They have become ingrained and I must carve them out. Over the next five posts I am going to cover these lies. Perhaps you will identify with some of them. Perhaps you will share with me something that I have not covered. 

I am not doing this to point out I am better or worse than anyone else. I am simply being honest, sharing my struggles, so you can see that life is hard, even when you are a Christian. 

I do not know where this will go. I am not trying to create doctrine or teach on lying. I am just going to share the nitty-gritty and hope that I can begin to overcome these lies and find freedom in the truth. 

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" John 8:32

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What is the first lie you can remember telling?