Risky Resumes and Boomerang Boasts

You can’t lie like you used to.

A few decades ago, you might be able to say you attended a college you didn’t or hold an office you never did, and no one would ever know. Not anymore.

People who inflate their academic, athletic or professional achievements will, over time, get found out. How many college coaches, potential CEOs, university presidents and politicians have been disgraced when the truth about their diplomas, credentials or military records finally surfaced?

In the end, it wasn’t personal attacks from others that tipped them from their pedestals; it was their own words.

Look at Proverbs 14:3 “A fool’s proud talk becomes a rod that beats him, but the words of the wise keep them safe.”

It’s an unsettling, and violent image, isn’t it? 
A person being bludgeoned by the crowbar of their own arrogant self-assessment?

Did you ever see the old cartoons where the villain would set a trap for the hero, only to get stuck in it himself? Or the bad guy who throws a boomerang that always circles back to hit him in the head?

That’s what unrestrained, unfiltered proud talk does. Our insecurities fuel the need to publicly elevate ourselves until the radiant Truth melts our waxy self-serving wings and we crash back to earth.

“The words of the wise keep them safe.”

Think of wise words as the tools you use to build an underground bunker. They are the burn suit a stunt person wears. They envelope you in the quiet confidence and steady peace that come from knowing precisely who you are, and what you’re not.

Conceited lies will leave you bloodied in a dark alley.
Self-assured wisdom will keep you warm and safe.
Tell the truth about yourself to God, to yourself, to others. It will only serve you well.