Wayward Words - Greg Laurie Devotion - September 18, 2025

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Thursday, September 18, 2025

Wayward Words

“You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16 nlt)

Strictly speaking, this commandment originally focused on perjuring yourself in a judicial trial. Yet it certainly applies to lying in general—something the Bible addresses in no uncertain terms.

In Proverbs 6:16–19, God says, “There are six things the Lord hates—no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family” (nlt). Of the seven things God hates, two of them involve lying and falsehood.

Why does God hate them? Because lying is incredibly destructive. Proverbs 25:18 says, “Telling lies about others is as harmful as hitting them with an ax, wounding them with a sword, or shooting them with a sharp arrow” (nlt).

Lying is insidious because we can convince ourselves that it’s a victimless crime. We lie to save face. We lie to keep from offending others. We lie because it’s more convenient than telling the messy, complicated truth. But those can’t be harmless offenses because they violate God’s ninth commandment.

That commandment also covers gossip and backbiting. Gossip topples governments. It wrecks marriages. It ruins careers. It destroys reputations. It causes nightmares. It spawns suspicions. It generates grief. That’s why Proverbs 20:19 warns, “A gossip goes around telling secrets, so don’t hang around with chatterers” (nlt). That includes seemingly well-meaning Christians who share details about other people’s lives and say, “This is just so we know how to pray for them.”

The commandment covers flattery, one of the most subtle forms of deceit. Someone once said that flattery is saying things to a person’s face that you would never say behind their back. It’s tempting to use flattery to get something from someone. But if you don’t sincerely mean what you say, it’s just another form of lying.

The commandment applies to exaggeration. Some people argue that exaggeration is simply a storyteller’s tool—a harmless trick to make the mundane seem a little more interesting. In other words, never let the truth get in the way of a good story. The problem with exaggeration is that if we can’t be trusted to be accurate and truthful in the minor details, how can we be trusted when it comes to the major ones?

The ninth commandment presents a challenge for many people because it involves the tongue. James wrote, “We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue” (James 3:3–8 nlt).

But that should never stop us from trying—especially where the ninth commandment is concerned.

Reflection question: Which of the areas covered by the ninth commandment presents the biggest challenge to you?

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Greg Laurie is the pastor and founder of the Harvest churches in California and Hawaii and of Harvest Crusades. He is an evangelist, best-selling author, and movie producer. His latest film ‘Jesus Revolution,’ from Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company, is now available on-demand worldwide.

For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
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