Daily Wisdom 02-18-2005 Truth Decay

We had some especially good pizza the other night for dinner. I'm trying not to be disgusting here, but just about every time we have especially good pizza for dinner, I wake up in the middle of the night thinking my teeth are wearing little sweaters. It seems I almost always have to pay for good pizza with that fuzzy-toothed feeling sometime after midnight. Has it happened to you? You sort of picture your teeth molding.

You can't smack a few times and get rid of it. You can't even de-fuzz with a drink of water. If you want to get rid of it, the only way to unbutton the little tooth sweaters is to brush. There have been times when I've felt compelled to fight off pizza-sweater cavities by brushing at two o'clock in the morning. I head back to bed a little tired, but at least feeling that I've done my part to fight tooth decay.

"Truth decay" is pretty similar, although it's not actually the truth that decays. The truth is ever sure, never fuzzy, always unchanging. It's our personal honesty that can lose its sheen.

We can prevent personal truth decay by brushing up on God's Word and sinking our teeth into His eternal truths. Time spent in God's Word results in understanding more about His character, more about how we are to walk in Him, more about the life of righteousness lived in truth. He tells us in His Word in no uncertain terms that our honesty is important to Him. There are no "little white lies" in God's book. Anything untrue is big and dark and ugly. The truth is completely non-elastic, so when we stretch the truth, it's not the truth anymore.

God hates lies. He hates them because they're opposed to His nature (He IS Truth) and because He knows lies hurt us and they hurt others. Ephesians 4:25 says, "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." (TLB)

In Zechariah 8:16, the Lord spells out our truth instructions: "Here is your part: Tell the truth. Be fair. Live at peace with everyone." (TLB) Sometimes truth is work. It's easier to make up an excuse about why we're late or to exaggerate a success, leave out a fact here and embellish one there. The truth might even get about as tiring as midnight brushing, but His Word tells us it's our part. And God wants our truthfulness to be part of who we are right down to our souls. Psalm 51:6 says, "Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place." (NIV) Who better to teach us truth than the One who is Truth?

When we're respecting the truth in every way, we delight Him. Proverbs 12:22 says, "The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful." (NIV) What a glorious thought: being a delight to the One who has made me and redeemed me!

If you've been a little careless with the truth, maybe it's time to delight your Father by polishing up your commitment to integrity and complete honesty. You'll be refreshed in the truth quicker than you can say "Zip, slip, brush, ahhh!"

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Rhonda Rhea writes for dozens of Christian publications and speaks at conferences and events across the country. You can find her newest books, "Soup for the Soul-Tastes Just Like Chicken", and "Amusing Grace", at your local Christian bookstore. "Who Put the Cat in the Fridge-Serving Up Hope and Hilarity Family Style", will be available in March. Rhonda's husband, Richie Rhea, is a pastor in Troy, Missouri. You can reach them through her Web site.