Lying Ruins the Liar

Proverbs 26:28 says that a "lying tongue hates its victim." That's straightforward and a bit scary. I don't think we typically see it to this degree. Not only does wisdom teach us this but add to this that a lying tongue lasts but a moment, while truthful lips endure forever (Prov. 12:19). Further, lying is quite serious: "He who breathes out lies shall perish" (Prov. 19:9). Yikes!

Perhaps, one of the most telling and dreadful results of lying is that it totally ruins the liar himself! And who better to write about this than one who had to endure the regime of liars, where lying is promoted to an art form! In The Brothers Karamozov, Fyodor Dostoevesky enlightens the reader with the following:

The important thing is to stop lying to yourself. A man who lies to himself, and believes his own lies, becomes unable to recognize truth, either in himself or in anyone else, and he ends up losing respect for himself as well as for others. When he has no respect for anyone, he can no longer love and, in order to divert himself, having no love in him he yields to his impulses, indulges in the lowest forms of pleasure, and behaves in the end like an animal, in satisfying his vices. And it all comes from lying - lying to others and to yourself. 

All sins come back on him who perpetrates them. Let us all beware lest we fall into the trap with regard to any breach of trust with God. Truth frees those who love and practice it.