A MESSAGE FROM THE HEART
by Pastor Curtis Baker
Do you remember the little trick we used to play as kids when we wanted to lie, but wanted others to think we were telling the truth? There are probably several different variations on this trick, depending on where and when you grew up, but when I was a kid the trick was to cross your fingers behind your back. So long as you fingers were uncrossed, you were bound to tell the truth to your friends, or else be rightly accused of lying. But if you could conceal your fingers in the crossed position, you were free to tell others anything that you pleased.
If someone accused you of lying, you could simply show them your fingers and all would be understood. The result of this little trick, however, was that you always had to watch your friend’s fingers to know if they were actually telling the truth (and even then it was still questionable!).
Fortunately, we all grow out of the necessity of such little games. Could you imagine as adults if we had to continually try to see behind the person’s back to verify if they were telling the truth? The results would be maddening! But with that thought in mind, stop for a moment and reflect on why we did that as children. Was not the purpose of crossing your fingers an attempt to use a lie to manipulate your friends? Sometimes the truth is very inconvenient to getting what you want, and a small lie can assist you in moving others in the direction you desire. We don’t have to be very old to figure out this is a very handy tool. But even though we drop the childish charade of hiding our fingers as we mature, that impulse to use lying to manipulate others is not so easily abandoned.
This is what Jesus is getting at when he teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount not to take oaths. As I made note of last week, this is not meant to literally keep us from making an oath in any situation, but instead is pointing toward our level of integrity. Some Christians (the Quaker movement comes to mind) have taken this to be a literal command and have therefore refused to swear on the Bible before testimony in court. But to turn this teaching into a hard and fast law is to miss the point of the teaching. The only reason we are required to take oaths in the first place is because we cannot be trusted to tell the truth on our own. It is, in a sense, a way of making sure we don’t have our fingers crossed behind our back. Jesus wants us to have such integrity that people will not demand us to swear an oath of truth before them, because they will know by our character that we mean what we say.
But to make this teaching a reality in our life, there is something that must go hand in hand with it. We must give up the idea of trying to control both circumstances and other people. If you reflect on this for a moment, that is why we are tempted to lie. When we see something happening that we don’t want to happen, sometimes a well placed lie can keep that from taking place. When the truth is not enough to move others to do what we want them to do, a well timed lie can often accomplish what the truth cannot. But at the heart of both of these excuses is the desire to manipulate things to our purposes. God does not want us to do that, because not even he does that. One of the most precious gifts God has given us is our free will. God could certainly force (manipulate) all of us into doing what he wants done, but he chooses not to because he respects the dignity of our choice, even when it harms us or his purposes. If God is not willing to manipulate others into action, who are we to use our words to manipulate others? In practice, integrity means doing the right thing, and trusting God with the outcome. It is letting your “yes” really mean “yes,” and your “no” really mean “no.” Anything else amounts to crossing your fingers behind your back.
(Don’t forget to join me for A Message from the Heart radio program Saturday mornings at 8:30 on KJAK 92.7FM, or streaming live at www.kjak.com)
Integrity, Pt. 2 (Matt 5:33-37)
By: Curtis Baker (curtisbaker@hotmail.com)
Write to: P.O. Box 157, Slaton, TX 79364
