Most people who have had a serious addiction problem have also unfortunately learned to become habitual liars. When you have to hide your addiction, and the problems your addiction causes, you will have no other choice but to lie or possibly be exposed and not be able to practice your addiction any longer. The problem is, we get so used to lying that it just becomes like a normal part of our personality, and even after we have quit our major addictions we still tend to bend the truth when it suits us.

So why do we really lie? We normally lie to…

1. Cover up something wrong that we did.

2. Protect something that we don't want taken away.

3. Make people think we are more that we really are.

4. Manipulate to get something we want.

5. Shift the blame for something we did onto someone else (deflection, transference).

6. Feel a sense of power over our lives.

7. Get ourselves out of trouble.

We have also been used to pilfering away secret stashes of money and pleasure sources (like food or drugs) as addicts, and we can still carry this security habit on even when we have stopped practicing our major addictions. This is physical lying, not verbal, and it is just as wrong. We must learn to tell the truth even when it costs us, gets us into trouble, exposes our secret security stashes, or when we feel insecure or are tempted to be dishonest for our own gain. We must also remember that liars do not inherit the kingdom of God, (which means they go to hell), which none of us wants. There are no white lies, there are only lies, and we will all give an account someday for every idle word we have spoken while here on earth. Allow the Holy Spirit to begin to weed out all of the lies and dishonesty from your speech and life today, and walk in the truth and light God has intended you to walk in.