Exaggeration

Exaggeration

The LORD detests lying lips,but he delights in those who tell the truth.

Proverbs 12:22

So the story goes, Mark Twain once asked a baggage handler in the railroad station in Washington, “Is that satchel strong enough to go in the baggage car?”

The baggage man lifted it high above his head and smashed it to the ground with all his might. “That,” said he, “is what it will get in Philadelphia.”

He picked it up and bashed it against the side of the car four or five times. “That is what it will get in Chicago.”

He next threw it high in the air, and when it landed, he jumped on it vigorously. It split open and scattered its contents across the platform. “And that is what it will get in Sioux City. If you are going any farther than Sioux City, you’d better take it in the Pullman with you.”

Twain was sometimes given to exaggeration. Writers like to call it “poetic license.” Others call it “stretching the truth.” But when you get right down to it, exaggeration is nothing more than a form of lying. Entertaining? Yes. But lying just the same.

I admit it is tempting to make the most of a story by embellishing it with exaggerated “facts” and delightful super-deeds that fascinate readers. And yet the Bible is clear when it says that “the devil . . . is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). The last thing we want to do is imitate the devil.

An interesting consideration to me is that exaggeration about God is virtually impossible. He is already omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipresent (in all places all the time). So if we concentrate on telling God’s story rather than lesser stories, we can use every superlative in the dictionary and still not begin to come close to the truth about him.

Dear Lord, when you know that I am about to speak dishonestly, please just shut my mouth. Replace those exaggerations with words of love and truth. Amen.