Why I lied?

Have you ever listened to someone speak so confidently
or humorously or even seriously, telling what you know to be a lie? Most of us
have, right? Have you done same sometime ago or even recently? Someone has and
another somewhere near you will yet dare before you finish reading this.

Enjoy this illustration first.

One day, while a woodcutter was cutting a branch of a
tree above a river, his axe fell into the river. When he began crying, God
appeared and asked him, “Why are you crying?” The woodcutter told Him
that he had dropped his axe into water. God went down into the water and
reappeared with a golden axe. “Is this your axe?”, God asked. The
woodcutter said “No”. God again went down and came up with a silver
axe. “Is this your axe?”, God asked. The wood cutter said
“No”. God went down again and came up with an iron axe. “Is this
your axe?”, God asked. The wood cutter said “Yes”. God was
pleased with the man’s honesty and gave him all the three axes. The woodcutter
went home happily.

One day while he was walking with his wife along the river, his wife fell into
the river. When he began crying, God appeared and asked him, “Why are you
crying?” “My wife has fallen into water.” God went down into the
water and came up with Jennifer Lopez. “Is this your wife?”, God
asked. “Yes!!!”, he said. God was furious, “YOOOOOU LIAAAAAR!!!
Now I am going to curse you…” The woodcutter quickly said, “Forgive
me My Lord for there is a misunderstanding. If I say “No” to Jennifer
Lopez, you will come up with Catherine Zeta Jones or Madonna. If I also say
“No” to her, you will finally come up with my wife and I will say
“Yes”. Then you will give all the three to me. My life is already very complicated as it is. So that’s why I had to say
“Yes”…

The above is a joke as you well know. But the next is
not. I came away with some important lessons in this my encounter with the police.

Every driver hates a traffic jam. In Lagos, road users
do incredible things on the highway to evade the regular traffic madness.

It was one of those insane days as traffic was
approaching standstill point very quickly and to avoid spending my entire day
behind a steering wheel, I made an illegal left turn into a One Way lane to cut
off the traffic. (This was those days when offenders like me would first be taken to a Psychiatric hospital for checkup before a heavy fine is administered to correct the insanity.)

Immediately, five police men sprang out from hiding
like lions and blocked me. One got into the front seat but before he could say
a word, I smiled, put my hand on his lap and said to him, “Dog no dey chop dog…”
meaning Dogs don’t eat dogs.

The message was clear. He understood it. “You be dog,
you be dog!!??” (Are you a dog) He asked, meaning it literally and looking very
disappointed. As he quietly exited the car, one of his colleagues asked him,
“Who e be?” (That’s, who was I?) “Na
officer” (An Officer) replied the one that checked me out. They all backed down
and I drove away.

What did I do there? I associated myself with those
cops by using their code and got away with it. My reaction to their poise that
day could have won an Oscar. It felt good, and that was the problem.

The feeling should have been that of remorse leading
to repentance because I lied. But no; I felt I’d got me an antidote to police
harassment and couldn’t wait to use it again and again and again… setting
myself up for destruction.

Most people stop or should I say pause when they get
caught. Others stop if God encounters them profoundly. If you wait until you
are caught, your remorse may confuse you because you may wonder if you are
remorseful for breaking God’s law and putting Jesus to shame publicly or just
regretting being caught. But why wait to find out how awkward this feels like, when you could just repent now?

Why did I take that wrong turn? Fear! I
feared that my day was about to end in a traffic mess and that’s not how I
planned it. I must be smart and fix this else, I’ll be a failure.

Then I was caught and I lied. Why did I lie? Fear! I
was afraid of the consequence of my crime.

But my problem
was more than these fears. The fears were just symptoms. The real malady was unbelief,
which is a heart condition. The fear of punishment, of rejection, failure and
shame all stem from a heart charged with doubt.

My lie revealed a lack of trust in God. I couldn’t
believe that He was still in control of that bad traffic situation and can
bring out some good from the experience.

Each lie is traceable to a fear which resides in a
heart that’s struggling to have faith in God.

The truth about lies is that we never tell them in error. Examine yourself. When was the
last time you lied? Why did you lie? Did you repent or did you savor the taste
of a false victory and wished for another opportunity?

Seth Barnes said something about Four kinds of
lairs. I enjoyed the comments more than the blog itself.

Author: Uche Izuora

I'm inspired by God’s passion for His name in every generation, which provokes global worship through Jesus Christ. Becoming an emotionally healthy and transformative disciple, I aim to mobilize the Church to engage in cross-cultural missions and raise other like-minded disciples who discover themselves in Christ and seek to present and represent Him as Savior and Lord among the nations northward of Uganda. View all posts by Uche Izuora