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Community Corner

The Weight of Lies

Ben Cathey, pastor of The Orchard Church in Loganville, debates the destructive power of lies - from those big whoppers to the little bitty white ones.

One of my favorite songs is The Weight of Lies by The Avett Brothers.  The melody is so sweet and the lyrics are so true - words below.  Take a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ5isLBu_To

Big bold fat lies . . .  Premeditated ice cold lies . . .   Little bitty white lies . . . they all carry the same weight.  The weight they carry is destructive and significant.  The weight of lies is more lies, broken relationships, a loss of integrity, and the need for forgiveness.

More lies – one lie almost always leads to another lie until the truth is told.  The more lies we tell the more lies we need to cover up the original lie.  Liars have a labyrinth of lies that keep original and secondary lies afloat.  Deep into the maze they begin to think the need lies to measure up.  The only thing that will kill a lie is the truth.  Lie upon lie only inflicts more damage on the soul of the liar and the one being lied to.

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Broken relationships – healthy relationships are built on trust and mutual respect.  Manipulative relationships that lack honor or strength are built on lies.  Lies can be hidden, but revealed or unrevealed that will cause tension in relationships.  Everyone involved will know that something is not quite right and the loss of trust and respect will decrease general levels of satisfaction in almost every aspect of the relationship… laughter, sharing, sexuality, creative partnership – you name it.

Loss of integrity – liars loss integrity with those around them and have to maintain a perfect truth-telling track record for long periods of time to overcome lies.  Lies hurt.  Lies hurt the liar.  Lies hurt the one being lied to.  Lies hurt God who created us.  Lies have collateral damage as images of an honorable person come crashing down in the sadness of integrity wasted.  Integrity is the strength of a thing.  Lies weaken us, break us, and make us less than what we can and should be.  Under the weight of lies our lives are more susceptible to come crashing down around us full of regret and wasted potential.

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Need for forgiveness – forgiveness is available to those who lie, but only if they seek genuine repentance.  Forgiveness is not truly given to the one who demand to be trusted again immediately in the face of lies.  Forgiveness is a gift given to the offender by the one who has been offended.  Forgiveness is not cheap.  It cannot be bought, forced, manipulated… and the false forgiveness of secret keep will haunt us till our graves.  Lies also offend God.  One of God’s top ten is “thou shalt not lie”.  The cost of our forgiveness was the life of God’s Son taken in our place as a justice offering for our lies.  He is a good and gracious God who meets us way beyond halfway, but He will not be mocked and our confession must be true if our lie is to be forgiven.  The life of Jesus was too costly for it to be any other way.

The moral of the article:  The weight of lies will crush you.  If not now, then later, if not later, then all along the way as hidden secrets become dense with regret and frustration.  The weight of lies is slavery.  Truth telling is freedom.


Words to THE WEIGHT OF LIES by THE AVETT BROTHERS


Go and find the people that you know

Show them all you good parts

Leave town when bad ones start to show

Go and wed a woman

A pretty girl that you've never met

Make sure she knows you love her well

But don't make any other promises



The weight of lies will bring you down

And follow you to every town

Cause nothing happens here that doesn't happen there

So when you run make sure you run

To something and not away from

Cause lies don't need an aeroplane to chase you anywhere



I once heard the worse thing 

A man could do is draw a hungry crowd

Tell everyone his name, pride, and confidence

But leaving out his doubt

I'm not sure I bought those words

When I was young I knew most everything

These words have never met so much to anyone

As they now mean to me



The weight of lies will bring you down

And follow you to every town

Cause nothing happens here that doesn't happen there

So when you run make sure you run

To something and not away from

Cause lies don't need an aeroplane to chase you down

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