Title
The Truth or the Whole Truth
Scripture
These are the things you shall do: Speak each man the truth to his neighbor; Give judgment… for truth, justice, and peace.
(Zechariah 8:16)
Devotional
The directions of the prophet are clear and simple: we are to tell the truth with an attitude of fairness, that peace may prevail in our lives. The truth has a way of being maligned by false motives. We often tell truths for the purpose of propagating the wrong motive. We hear the froward and deceitful do it all the time. What they may be saying is the truth, but the reason they are saying it is to deceive and mislead. This does not lead to justice and peace. It leads to inequity and conflict. Therefore, there is a difference between the truth and the whole truth. A statement can be truthful, but empty. The reason and purpose of the statement will determine if it is the whole truth or not. These are the things we should do: we are to tell the whole truth justly that the end result would produce peace.