A tall tale

This is pastor tim from Hazard First Baptist with Today’s Good News.

A Minister was walking down the street when he came upon a group of about a dozen boys, all of them between 10 and 12 years of age.

The group had surrounded a dog. Concerned lest the boys were hurting the dog, he went over and asked "What are you doing with that dog?"

One of the boys replied, "This dog is just an old neighborhood stray. We all want him, but only one of us can take him home. So, we've decided that whichever one of us can tell the biggest lie will get to keep the dog."

Of course, the reverend was taken aback. "You boys shouldn't be having a contest telling lies!" he exclaimed. He then launched into a ten minute sermon against lying, beginning, "Don't you boys know it's a sin to lie," and ending with, "Why, when I was your age, I never- I never told a lie."

There was dead silence for about a minute. Just as the reverend was beginning to think he'd gotten through to them, the smallest boy gave a deep sigh and said, "All right, give the preacher the dog."

The 10 Commandments teach us not to lie. Not to bear false witness about our neighbors. But let’s be honest, we all have told a tall tale at one time or another, we all have embellished the truth a little- and at times a lot. We all have told lies.

God gave Moses the commandments, there’s only 10, you would think that we could attain these ten. But the truth is, we all err, we all sin, Paul said in Romans 3:23 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. In and of ourselves we have no hope for heaven. We can’t just compare our lives to others and say, well if they make it in, we certainly have a good chance. But we need to be truly perfect in every way, before we have any hope for salvation.

Some will say, well we then have no hope, for none of us are perfect. And they would be right. The only hope that we have is in the redemption offered by the perfect blood of Jesus Christ. It is not in our goodness that we are saved, but we are saved by His grace.

This has been pastor tim with Today’s Good News.