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7 Innocent Lies Pastors Tell

4. It was awful.

And other times I can write something off as terrible, when the truth is it had redeeming characteristics I’ve missed. It’s rarely as great or as awful as I think.

I have to discipline myself to call it what it really is.

5. Yes.

Sometimes I say yes when I don’t mean yes. I say yes to make someone happy or to get someone off my case. That’s just not good.

Being nice is a poor substitute for honesty.

6. No.

Sometimes I say no when I don’t mean it either. Sigh.

Even when it’s more complicated, it’s good to give the full answer such as, “I do weddings occasionally … let me explain how that tends to work,” rather than to simply say I don’t do them.

7. I’ll pray for you.

This one hurts the most. I know I have sometimes told someone I’ll pray for him or her, and then I forget.

And sometimes (man I’m trying to banish this tendency), I’ll even say “I’ll pray for you” because I know it’s the ‘pastoral’ thing to say. And then I forget.

To combat this, sometimes I’ll pray for people on the spot as I walk away so I don’t forget. And I do try to bring to mind people to pray for when I pray. I’m also comforted by the hundreds of people at our church who are praying for each other.

But I want to be 100 percent certain that when I say I’m praying for you, I am.

Jesus’ words are clear; let your yes be yes and your no be no.

If you want to continue to build your integrity (like I do), here’s a post on five practical ways to build your integrity. And if you want a quick test on your integrity level, here’s a post outlining five signs you lack integrity.

Pastor lies need to go. Even the innocent ones.

How about you? Ever catch yourself in an ‘untruth’? Any other lies you’ve noticed?