By John Warren

 

I don’t know if you have been in the situation of having to change the locks on your front door, but if you have, you know that there have been all sorts of improvements made in home security.  

Now you do not have to buy the same old key locking mechanism. They have combination door locks and door locks that work from your phone instead. 

But if you are talking about relationships and friendships then you will have to use the same old key to unlock that door because nothing else will work.  The key to such relationships is the truth and nothing but the truth will do. 

Your relationships, friendships, a family you name it, will be much easier if you carry them on in a truthful manner. 

Once you tell one lie, it is like the most invasive grass you have ever seen, Johnson grass.  

Once it gets started in your flowerbed, it spreads and before long it just takes over until the whole bed is littered with the horrible hard to contain or control the weed.  

That is what happens with a lie.   

And to top it off once your lie has broken trust, you have to practically rebuild the relationship over again.  

“Jesus answered, ‘It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  Matthew 4:4

O God, I want to be free from lies. Rescue me and let the words from my mouth be the truth shared in a loving supportive way.  Amen. 

 

John Warren is Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church, 502 North 6th Street in Orange.