“Oh, I lie all the time!”

I help a certain church with their finances, and this week needed to apply for a credit card on behalf of that church (ordering any type of product from a web site, these days, is almost impossible without a credit card).

I decided to call and apply for the credit card over the phone.

The card I was applying for was a small business credit card, and at the beginning of the call she had assured me that it would work fine for a small church

At one point in the application process she asked me, “What is the purpose of the business?” My response was along the lines of, “To share the good news of the gospel with those that are lost and dying and headed for an eternity in hell.” Obviously, God has other purposes for the church as well, but it was interesting to be asked the question by a credit card company!

After the application process was done, she didn’t ask if there was anything else she could help me with (which is normally the perfect segue into sharing the gospel). Instead, I had to jump in and say I had another question for her, but that it didn’t have anything to do with the credit card application – did she have just a minute before the next call came in? She had time, so I started into the Good Person Test with her.

She felt she was a good person, and she was then OK with me asking some questions to see how true that was. She said she was familiar with the ten commandments, and felt she had kept most of them.

I started with the 9th commandment: thou shalt not lie. I shared that I have told lies in the past, and I asked her if there was ever a time in her life when she had lied.

Her response? “Oh, I lie all the time!”

I wondered whether it was at work (as people are asking questions about the credit cards?!?) or in her personal life, but I didn’t ask...

I was impressed with her honesty in admitting her habitual lying – although one would have to say that it is an oxymoron to have an honest, habitual liar.

We went through the rest of the test and, after hearing (and agreeing with) the bad news (she was facing an eternity in hell) we went through and she heard the good news of the gospel.

I’m praying that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in her heart and she will surrender her life to the Lord Jesus Christ.