Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal truthfully are His delight. (Proverbs 12: 22, N.K.J.V.)

A paratrooper finished basic training and went up for his first jump. As he was about to leap from the plane’s exit hatch, he pulled back and said, “I can’t do it.” His sergeant said, “Yes, you can. Just jump, count to ten, and pull the cord of your main chute. If the chute doesn’t open, just count to ten again and pull the cord of your emergency chute. And if that chute doesn’t open, we’ll have a feather bed waiting for you to land on down there.”

So, the paratrooper jumped. He counted to ten and pulled the cord of his main chute. Nothing! Then he counted to ten again and pulled the cord of his emergency chute. Nothing! As he plummeted to the earth, toppling end over end, he said to himself, “And I’ll bet they don’t have that feather bed down there, either!”

How many times does someone have to burn you with lies before you get wise to their fire? I’ve known some people who were so good at lying they could pass a lie detector test. How good were they? They were good enough to get me to half believe them even when I KNEW they were lying!

I don’t know how you feel about the term “born liar,” but in Psalm 58:3 David seems to give the concept a touch of validity. I guess his inference is that some peoples’ inborn pet sin (the sin toward which they are highly bent, the sin that comes easily to them) is lying. He writes:

The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. (N.K.J.V.)

The takeaway from this post is that you would do well to learn to spot liars and avoid from them. And if circumstances prevent you from staying away from a particular one (perhaps a family member or a coworker), you should at least have the spiritual discernment to see the person for who he or she is. Putting it simply: That person might be good at lying, but you don’t have to be good at believing!