If you're gonna lie, just admit it.

The Bible reading for today was the story of how Jacob and his doting mother Rebekah, deceived Jacob's father Issac into giving him the blessing that was usually reserved for the firstborn son, which in this case, would be Jacob's brother Esau. I just noticed today that when Jacob first objects to his mother's plan, he says this: "But my brother Esau is a hairy man and I'm a man with smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing."

Did you catch that? Jacob doesn't say, I can't participate in this plan because I would be tricking my father. He says, "I would appear to be tricking him..." This one word changes the whole meaning, doesn't it! Jacob is not willing to man up and admit this is deceptive, he says it appears to be deceptive. He is already making excuses and playing with words, justifying to himself and his scheming mother this lie. I think Jacob would have made a great politician today, but even back then, he was promoted to a position of great responsibility and governing. Did his deceitful habits follow him? Maybe. Does it seem in general, as people ascend the ladder of their political and public careers, that they learn early on what to say, what not to say, and how to say it? As we do too. We do it privately, we do it publicly. We choose our words carefully when justifying our behavior to ourselves and to our families. Hmmm. There's a lesson to be learned here.