“Blurred Lines” – A United Church of Christ StillSpeaking Daily Devotional by The Rev. Kaji Douŝa

[Peter said to Ananias,] “You haven’t lied to other people but to God!” – Acts 5:4 (CEB)

Shortly before resigning, a former government official admitted to telling “white lies” to the public, but nothing, she claimed, was a lie of real substance. Interesting.

How do we decide which lies are harmless and which are substantial?

In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira withheld part of their earnings while pretending to give it all. Their lie wasn’t just about money; it was about misrepresenting themselves before God and their community. Their sin wasn’t just dishonesty; it was the deeper deception of trying to fake righteousness.

Lies—black, white, or grey—are always about manipulation. They seem like the easy road, a way to avoid discomfort or gain an advantage. But the more we lean on them, the more they shape our reality. We start living a lie rather than just telling one.

God calls us to truth—not to shame us, but to free us. A life built on pretense will always collapse under its own weight, but truth leads to integrity, trust, and real connection. The good news is that God is not waiting to strike us down but to lift us up, calling us into the light, into a life where we don’t have to fake our way in.

Prayer
God of truth, help me to live with integrity, knowing that in truth there is freedom, and in You there is grace. Amen.

The “StillSpeaking Daily Devotional” series is produced by The United Church of Christ.