The Lord taught me that, from a worldly perspective, lying has many negative effects on the body. It raises our cortisol and affects our stress response. It affects our energy and mood. Not only that, but it affects our self-esteem. Over time, it chips away at who we are internally. We lose our voice, and once that's gone, we feel the real us isn't good enough because we've conditioned ourselves to believe that lying is the only way.

When the Lord explained lying from a sin perspective, he taught me that lying was not only wrong but could make the difference in a life-or-death situation. When we get into the habit of lying about little things, we will then lie about the big things because it becomes second nature to us. Not only that, it's manipulative, deceitful, wrong, and people eventually get hurt.

* I watched a documentary one time where this couple was taking a road trip in their R.V. They started fighting, and the situation turned domestic. As they were fighting, a cop decided to pull them over for speeding. When he went to talk to them, the girlfriend was crying and looked distraught. He asked her if everything was alright with her and the boyfriend. Instead of being honest with the cop, she lied and said everything was fine. The cop then wrote them a ticket, and off they went. Well, the boyfriend ended up driving them somewhere remote, and he killed the girlfriend. If she had been honest with the cop, she would still be here today. Yes, someone would have gone to jail, but the point is she would be alive today if she had just been honest.

I challenge you to not tell a single lie. It's not as easy as you think. And don't get discouraged when the truth surfaces. I, too, did this challenge, and I, too, failed miserably. It gets easier with time, but even then we will mess up.

This is why Jesus means everything to me. He sacrificed Himself for us; He paid the price for our past, present, and future sins. He didn't die so we could embrace our sins and continue living in our old nature. He died so that as we learn to follow Him and change our ways to His ways, we are covered by His blood even when we mess up.