I know that it doesn’t mean anything and that it’s just a filler word or similar habit, but some people say things like “honestly” or “no lie” too often when starting sentences. I can be caught doing that myself from time to time. The sarcastic response could be “were you lying before?” but that can be even more obnoxious.

Come, my children, listen to me;

    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Whoever of you loves life

    and desires to see many good days,

keep your tongue from evil

    and your lips from telling lies.

Turn from evil and do good;

    seek peace and pursue it.

Psalm 34:11-14

There’s a common and, in my opinion, quite acceptable practice of holding a private opinion and a public one on some things. We sometimes will withhold our feelings on something in order to help someone save face or to avoid conflict. Telling someone that their haircut is bad might be fine for close friends or relatives but would be disastrous for a stranger or your boss. Nodding along in a difficult situation to avoid conflict is different than changing opinions to go along with each person you meet.

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Colossians 3:9-10

On the other hand, lying as a practice is forbidden for Godly people. That is, intentionally misleading someone is sin. Even if the conclusion drawn from that misunderstanding was “harmless”, lying does not present Christian attitude to our neighbors and witnesses to our work in the Lord.

Even more than that, lying to fellow believers is destructive to the community of the Church! We need each other, and lying weakens the bonds of unity. We must be more like our Savior day by day, being renewed in his likeness.

Ethan Kirl