Honesty is the best policy/Truthseeker

How often do you lie? I tried counting how many lies I told in one day once. I started out pretty confident of my own truthfulness but was quickly disappointed as the half-truths, exaggerations and sometimes, flat out lies tripped off my tongue.

Actively keeping tabs on lying surprised me.
Although I had previously thought of myself as a truthful person that was committed to keeping things honest, I realised that those exaggerations that made me look a bit more impressive when I told that story are very persuasive. My commitment to the being truthful was still there, but only when it made me look good, of course.

We complain about the lying of politicians, and become disillusioned by the false promises of advertising. Yet every day we practice the exact same art, justified by "it won't hurt anyone".

Looking at what my habits tell me, I concluded that with some sad sort of irony, more often than not it was myself I was hurting more than anyone else.

The exaggerations I feel I need to tell to make myself seem more impressive stem from a place of insecurity, where I feel I need to present more than myself to those I am talking to. I sell an edited version of my actions instead of feeling free to be completely real with those around me.

Things like exaggerations are only the tip of the iceberg; as those are the lies that we are consciously aware of. I wonder how many times each day do we fall into the trap of believing the lies about ourselves without even a second thought..

I am not good enough..
                I can't do x because of y...
                           They won't want me or like because of...

These thoughts stop me from doing things. Or even make me do things that I don't actually want to do.

The Bible has a lot to say about truth, and about lying.  In fact, Jesus claims to be the way, the TRUTH and the life.

He tells us to be honest because we don't need to be anything else but honest when we are rooted and established in him.
We can start to dig out those pesky subconscious lies when we know him, for only when we truly know truth, we can start to see the lies.

Jesus says the truth will set us free. Remember the feeling of refreshment of being completely honest with someone, and the beauty of that relationship where you are able to do that. That is freedom. That is something we can experience in every day as part of knowing Jesus.

I'm not sure I agree with honesty being the best policy. I think honesty should be the only policy we have.