DAY 17
From the devotional book Beyond Words by Frederick Buechner
“IT WASN’T BECAUSE ANANIAS held back from the poor box some of the proceeds of his real-estate deal that Saint Peter came down on him so hard. The poor would get by somehow. They always had. What got the old saint’s goat was that Ananias let on he was handing over his whole pile instead of only as much as he thought he wouldn’t be needing himself.
“You do not lie to us but to God,” Peter said (Acts 5:4), and the undeniable truth of the charge together with the unbearable shame of it were more than Ananias could take, so he dropped dead. His wife, Sapphira, had been in on the real-estate deal with him, and when she turned up three hours later and found out what had happened, she dropped dead too.
Lying to God is like sawing the branch you’re sitting on. The better you do it, the sooner you fall.”
Acts 5:1-11
my reflection Buechner is not the least bit opaque here, and his point is very valid. Thereis absolutely no time when a lie is acceptable. The notion that little white lies are okay might be comforting in the short term, but every lie, monstrously big or seemingly inconsequential, has corosive effects on all other parts of life. When we lie, we are consciously throwing our integrity in the dumpster. Once I know you lied to me once, how can I be sure that you won’t do it again? More important, can I really trust anything you ever tell me again? Yes, I know this might seem over the top. But I have personal experience with this, personal, painful experience. In my younger years I was a darn good liar. I probably could still be good, but I just can’t anymore. I sacrificed too much of myself in those days, to my eternal shame. Once you start fibbing, stretching the truth, use whatever euphemism you like, you have to keep doing it to cover up the fibs you already told, and it’s like a stone rolling downhill. It’s far better to just not start at all and keep your self-respect intact. It isn’t easy to rebuild it.
- Our Weekend Getaway - January 22, 2024
- So Long, Mom, And Thanks For All The Spaghetti - November 10, 2023
- Thoughts On The Chogaffirm Petition - June 3, 2023
- Rhonda - June 3, 2023
- Beyond Words Day 23 - April 4, 2023
- Beyond Words Day 21 - April 1, 2023
- State Of The Household - January 9, 2023
- Book Review and Miscellany Thoughts - November 18, 2022
- Initial Thoughts On My Writing - September 13, 2022
- Beyond Words Day 19 - September 11, 2022
