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Don't Buy the Lie

It really ticks me off when the church lies.

I am a jokester at heart and have a sense of humor that leans toward the cynical side.  As a result, I have been known to “bend the truth” for a good laugh (though I always come clean in the end).  It was during one of these times that I was kidding around with a friend whose personality is similar to mine.  I really had him going and play it along for a while until he realized that I was not being completely truthful when he emphatically said (for everyone to hear), “I can’t stand a lying preacher!”

So that got me thinking. I can’t stand a lying preacher either.  And even worse, I can’t stand it when the church lies.  One such lie that I hear often in the broken hearts of people is that God tempts us to test our faithfulness.  When people hear those words (though couched in different phrases), the mind inevitable leads them to seeing God as something other than the loving Creator and Sustainer.

Scripture is very clear about temptation.  “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’  For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”  (James 1.13-14).

For reasons I think I will never fully understand, we desire to do things that are contrary to God’s will and as a result our lives are less than God desires them to be.  We choose to do those things.  God does not choose them for us or tempt us to do them.  Maybe we buy into the lie that God tempts us so that we can feel justified. 

 Maybe that is why preachers and Christians who are a part of the church lie and tell us that God tempts us; so they will feel justified in their own shortcomings.  I don’t know.  I just know that I don’t want to foster the lie.

The God I read about in scripture and have experience in this world would never tempt anyone, even if it were for “good intentions” like building character and growing a person’s faith.  God knows you better than you can ever know yourself – all your weaknesses and strengths, all your failures and successes – and loves you anyway.

That is the truth that I live by and hope that my life can somehow reflect to others.