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There's An Antidote For Self-Promotion

From news reports, we read about a college football coach resigning after admitting he falsified his academic and athletic credentials. A career military officer confesses to wearing combat decorations he did not earn. A job applicant acknowledges that her stated experience in “food and beverage oversight” was actually making coffee each morning at the office.

Within each of us is a tendency to embellish the truth in order to impress others. Whether on a job or in casual conversation, exaggeration comes naturally — but we pay a price. Small lies usually grow larger as we try to avoid discovery. Then we wonder how we ever got ourselves into such a predicament.

The Bible says,

“Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Colossians 3:9-10).

If we’re Christians, lying is inconsistent with what God expects us to be. The antidote for the poison of self-promotion is a growing Christlikeness — a spirit of mercy, kindness, humility, patience, forgiveness, and love (Colossians 3:12-14).

An honest man doesn’t have to look over his shoulder (2 Corinthians 8:21).