A certain woman, preparing to entertain guests, went to a small grocery store to buy food.  She stopped at the meat counter and asked the attendant for a large chicken.  He reached down into the cold storage compartment, grabbed the last chicken he had, and placed it on the scale.  "This one weighs four pounds, Ma'am," he said.

            "I'm not sure that four pounds will be enough," the woman replied.  "Do you have a bigger one?"

            The annoyed attendant put the chicken back into the compartment, pretended to search through the melting ice for another one, and then brought out the very same bird.  Discreetly applying some finger pressure to the scale, he said to the woman with a smile, "Ah, this one weighs six pounds."

            "I'm still not sure that will be enough," the woman said with a frown.  "I'll tell you what.  Wrap both of them up for me, and I'll buy the two!"

            You may have heard the old saying, "Honesty is the best policy."  Well, we live in an age when fewer and fewer people are adopting that policy.  Some types of lying are even acceptable in the eyes of some people.  But, lying has NEVER been acceptable in the eyes of God.  We can call a lie by any other name (a little, white lie, a well-intentioned lie, a half-truth to spare another's feeling, a lie of omission, etc.), but a lie is still a lie, and lying has ALWAYS been wrong.

            Under the Old Testament in Exodus 20:16, God gave the following commandment to the Jews:  "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."  In other words, do not lie!

            Now, we live under a different law that is found in the New Testament.  Paul once told some Christians in Colossians 3:9 & 10, "Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him."  In other words, do not lie!

            There may be many ways to tell a lie, but not one of them is right.  To follow God, we must be seekers of the truth and not lovers of the lie.  Honesty has been, is, and always will be the best policy.  In fact, it is the ONLY policy when it comes to pleasing God.

            Kevin's Komments is written by Kevin Patterson and presented by the Sebring Parkway church of Christ assembling at 3800 Sebring Parkway, Sebring, FL 33870.  Find them on the internet at www.sebringcoc.com