I heard a story recently of a woman who was talking to her preacher. She said, “I have a habit that I know is hurting my example — the habit of exaggeration. I start to tell something and I go on and on enlarging the story. People suspect that it’s not true. I’m trying to overcome the problem. Could you help me?”
The preacher responded, “Let’s talk to the Lord about it.”
She prayed, “Lord, You know I have this habit of exaggeration” At this point the preacher interrupted, “Call it lying and you may get over it!” The woman was deeply convicted and confessed her wrong.
Have you noticed that we often excuse our own sins by giving the more acceptable names? Our bad temper problem, we call “nerves”; our lying, “exaggeration”; being dishonest is called “good business”; gossiping is called the “latest news.”
If we expect to overcome our sins, we must bring them out in the open, call them honestly what they really are, and sincerely repent!
Prov. 28:13: — “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”
Let us make sure that when we talk we aren’t blowing things out of proportion. Indeed, “the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things” (Jas. 3:5).
