Truth vs Untruth

Good Morning,

Proverbs 10:19 (NIV)
When words are many, sin is not absent,
but he who holds his tongue is wise.
Proverbs 10:19 (TM)
The more talk, the less truth;
the wise measure their words.

I don't use The Message translation of the Bible very much, but today's verse seems to be quite to the point in it.

Have you ever noticed that it takes fewer words to tell the truth than it does to make up some lie on the same subject? Look around sometime...stop and listen...see the truth in that. It seems that some people will go on and on about something, often something trivial that makes no difference in lives, to embellish what has happened or to totally make up something that never DID happen. There are those who feel it absolutely necessary to tell long, drawn out stories about this or that, with absolutely no basis in any kind of truth or fact. It's just the way some people are, I guess. And, I must say, the Bible is extremely accurate in this verse of Proverbs. The longer the "story" the greater is the chance of fabrication.

The other thing about making something up or embellishing facts is that it will almost always be brought into the open. Not many fabrications last very long. That's simply because, eventually, the truth will come out. The unfortunate thing is that there are many who have believed the lie and never see the facts when truth is told. Such is our society, I guess.

The last thing about making up this or that is the fact that one has to remember what has been said. Now, for some, I suppose, that's not too difficult. But, for the rest of us, well, it's more than just a bit troublesome to remember something that was not the truth. That's when the many words thing kind of comes into play, as well. People will go on and on, and still not remember exactly what the lie was in the first place.

Bottom line here is the fact that it's just easier, not to mention better, to tell the truth in the first place. Lies take too much effort! Uh, oh! I guess I'm showing my "lazy" side, huh? Just kidding. Really, truth is so much more comfortable than lies. I cannot imagine having to remember something that I made up out of the ether after more than a day or so. I can barely remember what I had for breakfast! Well, sometimes I CAN'T remember!

The book of Proverbs is filled with so much wisdom. Today's verse just proves that. We all ought to be reading probably a chapter of Proverbs every day, just because it IS so filled with God's wisdom. So much to be learned.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David