I recently read an article about lying; it summarized the causes of lying into two things: greed and fear.  I think this makes a lot of sense.  In the story of Jacob, it is very possible that he was acting out of both fear and greed.  Primarily, he was acting out of greed that he desired the firstborn’s blessing, but also he may have acted in fear that he would not be happy or fulfilled if he didn’t receive what he wanted.

In addition to these two causes, lying involves pride.  It is prideful to think that our scheme is better than God’s plan.  In this situation, we need to remember two things.  One, that lying is as serious of a sin against the Lord as anything else, and, two, however we try to plot, deceive, and twist the truth with the intent of getting our way, the Lord’s plan will supersede. 

Furthermore, once ensnared in a lie, it is difficult to get out, and it will most certainly take considerable effort and time to heal any relationships injured by the lie – if it is to ever be healed.  Think about Jacob and Esau.  Jacob’s lie hurt Esau so much that he wanted to kill Jacob.  It appears that between the original events in Genesis 27 and the reunion of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 33, many, many years had passed, so, though Esau eventually forgave Jacob, we can only imagine how much change had to go on for both Jacob and Esau to get to a point where they could even see each other again.

With all of these negative characteristics related to lying, why would we ever let ourselves be so overcome with fear, greed or pride that we want to enter into such a negative area of lying?  In every individual situation, it is different, and the enemy works hard to find what will get each of us to the point where we would be tempted to lie.  As believers, we are indeed entrusted with responsibility of spreading the truth Christ, but I believe that we are also responsible to communicate truth in everything we say.  This is a simple way we can stand out from the world and be a witness to those who we encounter every day.