Daily Verse | 2 Kings 12:15
They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty.
Monday’s Reading: 2 Kings 15-17
It’s Monday, the day after the holiest day of the Christian calendar: Easter Sunday. It’s the most important day to Christians because, as Paul says, if Christ has not been raised, we’re still in our sins and our faith is futile.
Futile. Worthless. Useless. Pointless. That candid admission is one reason I believe scripture. I am unaware of any other faith that allows that if their central claim is untrue, the entire belief system collapses.
I hope those of you who follow Christ marked the occasion with joy and celebration, and I hope those of you who are still undecided remain curious about the claim that Jesus defeated death. If that claim is true, it means everything to you now and for eternity. You can always write me at info@daveolsson.com and I’ll happily answer your questions or point you to resources that can.
While in seminary, studying for my MDiv., I took a course from one of the more popular professors on campus who was also very pastoral. By “pastoral” I mean that he cared about people, he seemed wise, and he had a good-natured, grandfatherly affect about him.
During one class, he said something about the nature of truth and to this day, try as I might, I cannot remember his exact words. I even asked him to repeat what he said so that I could write it down, but even he couldn’t remember exactly what he had just said. In the moment the words were profound, and I’ve often tried to recall them, but they just aren’t there—so what I’m about to write is (most likely) a poor approximation of what he actually said.
The gist of it was this: When someone lies, they alter the reality of the person to whom they lied. In other words, when someone receives a lie as the truth, they are living with a distorted understanding of what is, in fact, real, courtesy of the liar. They live as though the lie is the truth.
Lying is so abhorrent to me that it was one of two non-negotiable rules that we held for our kids: you may not defy us, and you may not deceive us. We wanted them to respect authority and the truth.
Now we know that our children did not always tell us the truth (and they did not always obey our direction)—but then, neither did I always tell the truth and neither did I always respect authority. It’s part of the nature of unredeemed mankind and even after repenting, it’s a process of learning to live the truth no matter what.
The reasons for lying are numerous, but often they have to do with gaining an advantage over someone or avoiding responsibility for something, both being motivated by pride. Lying can get us more power or more money or more attention; it can also help us avoid humiliation or the consequences of our actions.
One of our maxims was, “Little people, little problems. Big people, big problems.” When children lie, the consequences are (almost) always small.
Parent: Did you make mommy a pretty drawing on the wall with markers?
3-year-old: No.
Parent: Why is there marker on your hands?
3-year-old: I don’t know.
But the bigger they get, the bigger the consequences of a lie can be.
The Lie: “Cigarette smoking is no more ‘addictive’ than coffee, tea, or Twinkies.”
The Truth: “Nicotine is a highly addictive chemical compound present in a tobacco plant.”
The Consequences: “Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day.”
The Lie: There is an epidemic of white police officers killing unarmed black suspects.
The Truth: “In 2019 police officers fatally shot 1,004 people, most of whom were armed or otherwise dangerous. African-Americans were about a quarter of those killed by cops last year (235), a ratio that has remained stable since 2015 … In 2018, the latest year for which such data have been published, African-Americans made up 53% of known homicide offenders in the U.S. and commit about 60% of robberies, though they are 13% of the population.“
That’s why there’s a disproportionate number of encounters with police. In addition, “white officers appear to be no more likely to use lethal force against minorities than non-white officers.”
The Consequences: “Mostly peaceful riots” over George Floyd’s death caused more than $2 billion dollars in damages, killed at least 15 people, and injured more than 700 officers.
The Lie: Gas prices are so high because of Putin’s war in Ukraine.
The Truth: “[Biden] canceled pipelines, restricted drilling on government lands and waters, and tightened regulations on oil and gas producers.” Also, “Gasoline prices climbed 48.3% between Biden’s inauguration and Putin’s invasion.”
The Consequences: “As of April 14, average prices for regular gasoline range from a low of $3.64 in Missouri to a whopping high of $5.72 in California, according to the national motor club AAA. The national average was $4.07, a 42% increase from last year.” Brandon pretends that the high cost of gas is out of his hands. It’s a lie and we’re literally paying the price for his deception.
There’s so many more lies that I could cite: Hunter’s laptop; Hillary’s illegal server; that men can be women; that January 6 was an insurrection; that 1619 is the true founding of America; that white supremacy is the biggest threat we face … and on and on and on.
We’ve come to accept that lying is part and parcel of politics. Why? Why shouldn’t we demand that our leaders are honest? At least we could make informed decisions. As it is, those lies distort reality and the results are what we’re living with today.
Maybe someday we’ll get lucky, and all of our political leaders will be forced to tell the truth, like Fletcher Reede (Jim Carrey) in Liar Liar, who is under a truth curse and cannot lie.
While I doubt we’d get that, I’d settle for workers who “acted with complete honesty.”
See you tomorrow.