Deception

From my morning reading.

Stop lying to each other; tell the truth, for we are parts of each other and when we lie to each other we are hurting ourselves. Ephesians 4:25

The essence of lying is in deception, not in words; a lie may be told by silence, by equivocation, by the accent on a syllable, by a glance of the eye attaching a peculiar significance to a sentence; and all these kinds of lies are worse and baser by many degrees than a lie plainly worded; so that no form of blinded conscience is so far sunk as that which comforts itself for having deceived because the deception was by gesture or silence, instead of utterance.
John Ruskin

He that is habituated to deceptions and artificialities in trifles, will try in vain to be true in matters of importance; for truth is a thing of habit rather than of will. You cannot in any given case by any sudden and single effort will to be true, if the habit of your life has been insincerity.
Frederick W. Robertson

As a kid, I was told: “lies have short legs.” Experience showed it to be true. A lie usually doesn’t last for long and it’s hard to maintain.

Even knowing the futility and harm of lying, there is still temptation to be less than transparent. I think it’s something we have to continually battle against.

Philip