As we walk toward Easter Sunday, reflect on your life

From 1985-1990, the comedian Jon Lovitz was a cast member of “Saturday Night Live.” One of his most iconic characters was Tommy Flanagan, aka the “Pathological Liar.” The character Tommy Flanagan would tell one lie after another, each one a bigger lie than the one before it. Among Tommy’s lies was that he invented rock ‘n’ roll, he was a personal friend of Mick Jaggar, and that he was married to Morgan Fairchild. As one lie followed another, Tommy would even surprise himself at his “brilliance” with his lies and the famous catchphrase, “Yeah! That’s the ticket!” would be said.

Lies are easy to come up with. Sometimes we lie in order to not hurt another person’s feelings. Sometimes we lie so we don’t have to deal with an unpleasant situation. Sometimes we lie to make ourselves look important. In order to not be called out on our lies, we create new lies as camouflage. It is possible to tell so many lies that we have a hard time keeping track of our lies. No matter why a person lies, there is a problem…it is not the truth. By lying, we fail to be honest with other people and we fail to be honest with ourselves.

As we walk toward Easter Sunday, reflect on your life. Has it been ensnared by lies? If so, do something about it. Turn to God and repent. Then, do the hard work of being truthful and respectful. It is by living in God’s truth that you will be free and happy.

“Those who put their trust in the Lord, who pay no attention to the proud or to those who follow lies, are truly happy!” Psalm 40:4

The Rev. Karen Dumey is the pastor of Hunter Memorial First Presbyterian Church in Sikeston.