We Christians, generally speaking, think we do pretty well when it comes to speaking the truth. We would never bring a false accusation against anyone, we would never give an untruthful answer to a direct question. Would we? As a famous exchange from a Gilbert and Sullivan musical goes:

"What never?"
“No, never!”
“What never?”
“Hardly ever!”¹

Our problem is that we are prone to making exceptions, we accept lapses and we tend to think that near enough is good enough.

David, in Psalm 15:1, asks the Lord who may dwell in his sanctuary, who may live on his holy hill. The answer: he who speaks the truth from his heart (v. 2b).

Too often our view of speaking the truth falls far short of God’s view. If our view of speaking the truth is limited to avoiding false accusations and not lying in answer to direct questions, then our grasp of truth is weak indeed. Let’s begin by considering three forms of dishones­ty that violate truth in more subtle and devious ways. They are disingenuousness, dissimulation and diversion. Don’t worry if you don’t know what all of these words mean – all will be explained.

Strategies of Dishonesty⤒🔗

Disingenuousness, according to the dic­tionary, is not being frank or open, being crafty. Think of the Pharisees who came to Jesus wanting to know his opinion on paying taxes.² They weren’t interested in hearing his advice, their motive was to trap him. They said to him, “We know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accord­ance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.” Although they spoke the truth, they did not believe it in their hearts. Their words were a ruse; their tactics were ones of trickery.

Often a disingenuous approach has a semblance of truth. However, the ap­parent motives are at odds with the real ones which are sometimes referred to as ulterior motives. If the ulterior motive is not disclosed then craftiness and dishon­esty have very likely occurred.

Flattery, which is to give exces­sive compliments in seeking to ingra­tiate oneself, also plays fast and loose with the truth. Flattering comments are often exaggerations and the motive from which they are made remains unvoiced. A searing observation was made by the Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, when he wrote, “Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery.”³

At times we deliberately hold back the truth, letting it out little by little, as a means of exerting power or control, or of hiding our own failings. In this vein Jane Austen writes, “Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised or a little mistaken.”⁴

Dissimulation, the second form of dis­honesty on our list, is to pretend one thing when another is true, to play the hypocrite. How easy it is to condemn the sin of another, putting out signals that all is well with us, when in fact we ourselves are harbouring even greater sin. Jesus, using the illustration of specks and planks in the eye, warns us most ef­fectively against such acts of hypocrisy.⁵

Have we ever put on a brave face, hiding adverse circumstances, even to close friends or elders, when the truth is we are in a state of spiritual crisis, family relationships are strained to breaking point, serious illness has been diagnosed, or our business is near to collapse? Or, conversely, have we ever ignored the fact that similar events may be occurring with friends, acquaintances or brothers and sisters in the Lord and pretended that all was well? Or perhaps we have been aware of serious sin about which our brother or sister ought to have been reproached and we have turned a blind eye. All of these are examples of dissim­ulating and all lack that truth from the heart that the Lord seeks in Psalm 15:2.

Diversion is the third form of dis­honesty that we want to consider. It can take the form of carefully steer­ing a conversation away from a topic we might feel would highlight areas of personal weakness or guilt. Sometimes abruptly changing the subject can be an effective diversion. So too can switching the focus to another person or another event, or broadening the focus to speak in general terms. At times it can be as simple as not answering and waiting for the moment to pass, or staring at some unusual object that will divert attention.

A biblical example of this is Mary and Martha’s interaction with Jesus.⁶ Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening to what he had to say. Martha (who Jesus knew was worried and upset about many things) appears not to have wanted to discuss her problems with him. Instead she made a show of wanting Jesus to send Mary into the kitchen, thus seeking to divert attention away from herself and her troubles.

These strategies are not presented here as arrows for the quiver of those who do not place a high value on truth. Rather they are held out as warnings against behaviours that we all too readily learn and, to our shame, use. May we be on our guard against them in our own words and actions. May we identify these behaviours in others, too, and counteract them or help those who practise them to overcome them as appropriate.

Ultimate Truth←⤒🔗

Up to this point we have been con­sidering truth from a moral viewpoint. However, because David describes the truth that a man must speak as coming “from his heart” we should also consider truth from a faith and belief perspective.

“What is truth?” asked Pontius Pilate as he stood before the embodiment of truth.⁷ Jesus had only just finished saying to him, “I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Pilate, ap­parently, wasn’t on the side of truth; he hurried back outside to try to avoid making a judgment about Jesus. But Jesus does more than testify about truth. He is truth. Too often we are lulled by the pleasing cadence of Jesus’ pronounce­ment, “I am the way, the truth and the life”, and we don’t think what it means that the Son of God is truth. What true comfort there is in that we don’t find ultimate truth in a teaching or principle alone but we find it in a person: our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. In an age where the possibility of absolute, invio­lable truth is denied, it is more urgent than ever that we speak the truth – the gospel of Jesus Christ – from our heart.

Truth from the Heart←⤒🔗

David also writes “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place”⁸ and “Search me, O God, and know my heart.”⁹ The man of God shares an intimate relationship with his Lord. God not only hears our words; because he searches our heart he is also privy to our thoughts. To speak the truth from the heart does not mean our heart must be right when and only when we speak. Our heart must hold to the true faith, and this faith must work itself out in thoughts that are honest, righteous and God-honouring. The man of truth will know the importance of living a sanc­tified life and that will be his aim. He will be well versed in God’s word, he will be prayerful, his thought-world will be much occupied with the adoration of God and supplication to him.

Lord, who may dwell in your sanctu­ary? Who may live on your holy hill? (v. 1) The answer: “He who (among other things) speaks the truth from his heart.” Can we completely succeed in our personal quest for truth? While we can pray for the Holy Spirit’s help, and while we can and should expect to grow in truth (both inwardly and in its expression), the answer must be in the negative. We cannot speak the truth from our heart to such a degree so as to satisfy our heav­enly Father who expects perfect truth. Yet, through Christ’s death and sacrifice we have been clothed with his righteous­ness. We can rejoice that Christ always spoke, speaks and will speak perfect truth, and that he is truth. We can live in the sanctuary of the Lord and ap­proach his holy hill (both metaphors of heaven) because of Christ. While cling­ing to him we must walk in his way, the way of truth, and in so doing we will have eternal life.