My brother and I once went out deer hunting in the woods behind our house. He was learning to archery hunt, and I tagged along for fun.
We set up behind some small pine trees on the edge of a clearing, and we were barely there a few minutes when he decided to take a chew.
I held his bow while he dug around for his can of snuff.
As he was taking his sweet old time getting the perfect pinch, a huge buck walked right out in front of us. It was a real trophy.
I was frantically yanking on his arm, whispering, “big buck!,” but he thought I was joking and said aloud, “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” and continued to lolly gag around with his chew.
By the time he finally looked up, the deer was already at the other edge of the clearing, and he only got a glimpse of it before it disappeared into the woods. He gasped in disappointment as he realized he had just missed the opportunity of a lifetime.
It was only about a week later when we heard that another hunter had shot that monster, a 7×7 wall-hanger.
I guess it didn’t really come as much of a surprise when he didn’t believe me. After all, I wasn’t exactly known for always telling the truth.
When you have a reputation of deceiving people, you will have frustrating times of telling the truth and not being taken seriously.
You know those people who have to follow everything up with, “I’m serious!,” or “I swear!” The reason they have to say that is because nobody believes a word they say. They are obviously known for stretching the truth or telling outright lies, so they have to emphasize that they really mean it this time.
Jesus said to “let your ‘Yes’ be Yes and your ‘No’ be No, for whatever is beyond these is evil.” Matthew 5:37
If you and I will simply tell the truth, we won’t have to swear by heaven, by earth, by God, by our mother’s grave, or whatever else people swear by.
Do you have a habit of stretching the truth, fabricating stories, or adding a little extra for shock value? Do people take you seriously when you speak? Do they know they can trust what you say?
Or are you known for being full of crap?
We could all easily write a list of names of those people in our lives right now who we wonder half the time if what they say is true, and those we know we can trust.
Which would you be in the minds of others?