Pinocchio, Proverbs and Truth Telling!


I often see the words “This Day in History” on my home page when I connect to the Internet. But I don’t often notice them. But today when I saw them and noticed them I decided to click. In doing so I discovered that it was on this date in 1940 that Disney released the animated classic film, Pinocchio. The story is all about a wooden puppet who longs to become a real human boy. In his journey toward his dream, a huge flaw is revealed. Pinocchio has a problem telling the truth. And every time he lies, his nose grows!

As I thought of that, I tried to imagine what our world would be like if that really happened. I mean, could you imagine if every time we told a lie, our noses would grow? None of us could probably drive our cars because we would not be able to sit in the driver’s seat – our noses would be too big!!! Jimmy Durante – move aside!

We find it so easy to stretch the truth, distort the truth, or downright contradict the truth. We know it’s wrong (for the most part) so we have developed a lingo that softens the harshness of lying. We say things like “Oh, I was only fibbing.” Or, “That was just a white lie.” But God has a different perspective on lying. Are you ready for this? In Proverbs 12:22 we read that “The LORD detests lying lips.” Hmmm . . . that word “detests” is an awfully strong word. It means “to feel intense hatred for.” So God intensely hates lying – no matter what nice little name we might have for it! What God loves is truth telling! The second half of Proverbs 12:22 reads, “But he delights in men who are truthful.” Let’s determine that today . . . and tomorrow . . . and the next day – we will be men and women who tell the truth, both in word and deed! For when we do this, the God who made us delights in us! Now there’s a thought for you!

Thanks for listening,

pj

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