Your Own PR Department

As we prepare to consider the blessed and the wretched in Jesus’ sermon (Luke 6:20-26), we remember that the categories of poor and rich, weeping and laughing, persecuted and popular, cannot be defined simply by looking at the surface.

One way to distinguish the groups is by the object of their dependence. There are those who depend on God, and those who depend on themselves.

Not addressed in the sermon, but a related symptom, is lying. Why do men lie? It’s not just for self-promotion, or self-protection, it comes from self-dependence.

Liars think they can manage their appearance. They are their own PR department. But self-dependence is miserable, and woe to those who lie. Saul lied when Samuel confronted him, depending on himself, and the kingdom was taken away from him.

Paul told the Colossians to put to death certain sins, to put off other ones, and then,

Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with its evil practices, and have put on the new man who is being renewed to a full knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. (Colossians 3:9-10 LSB)

If you are lying, stop. It will ruin you. If you have lied, admit it; the hole gets deeper as you double down, like a backhoe you can’t shut down. If you have lied, confess it as sin, to God, to one another, and ask for forgiveness.

Honesty walks with humility. Seek the blessing that comes by not depending on yourself.