As part of my yearly training at the Prison, I attended a character building class Monday.  The trainer focused on the characteristic of honesty that day.  I thought it was so ironic that just the day before I was preaching to Team Church about temptations, and then I kinda got a follow-up message about giving in to the temptation to lie at my workplace.  It is so cool to hear people work through ethics dilemmas outside of the church atmosphere.  At work, they removed the religious filter, and just said what they really believed.

The trainer asked, “Do you think you’re an honest person?”

I heard answers that started with basically, I am; on the whole, I am; generally, I am; and overall I am an honest person.

The trainer asked, “Why do you think you’re an honest person?”

One answered, “Because I tell the truth more than I tell lies.” (interesting answer, no? )

Another person turned the tables on honesty by saying, “what do you do when your wife asks, ‘honey, does this dress make me look fat?’”  But then in the same breath she said, “we just better stick to talking about honesty at work.”

So, I’m guessing from that that we’re supposed to always be honest at work, but we have some wiggle room at home or either when the truth is not so convenient???  The trainer then asked a very pointed question, “how many lies does it take for us to be a liar?”

On Sunday I was pretty much thinking about the temptation we face “in the dark.”  In other words, I was imagining temptations we have when we’re usually alone, when no one knows what we’re up to, the dark and seedy things that would ruin us if they were ever revealed. But temptations can come in all sizes…isn’t it amazing that we’ll even succumb to the temptation to lie even when it was just as well to tell the truth.

I hope you’re watching out for those temptations this week–No matter if it’s a temptation to begin an affair, scan some internet porn, or even tell a “little white lie.”  Remember, all of our temptations have potential…potential for great harm as well as potential for your victory through God’s help.

I mentioned David Letterman’s admission on Sunday. Last weekend he admitted to being the target of an extortion plot, and then he confessed to (at least some of) the things the blackmailer had against him. Even if the suspect goes to prison, we all know that the info will eventually come out. Letterman knew that too, and went ahead and uncovered the secrets before someone else could.

Luke 12:2-3 NIV says…

There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

We face temptation all the time to do things in secret, and then we believe the lie that they will stay hidden.

Our perspective is that what happens in the dark, stays in the dark.

To be more specific…

• what happens behind a closed door, stays behind closed doors…
• what happens at the office, stays at work…
• what happens at school stays at school…
• what happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom…and so on

But God’s perspective is very different from ours. He knows all that we do and think. He even knows the motivations behind what we do and think. And yet, with all that dark data, He still loves us and pulls for us to pass the tests that come our way through temptation.

Giving in to temptation has serious, serious consequences!  And even Letterman faces that.  Not only did he have to face up to this extortioner, he also had to testify about all he had done in front of a grand jury.  And on top of that just last night he made another announcement on the subject.  This time it was an apology to his wife about the affairs.  He said that she had been horribly hurt, and that he had his work cut out for him to attempt to make it up.

What were we thinking the last time we gave in to temptation?  I’m sure we were not thinking of all the consequences we would face when the things we did in the dark finally come to light.