On greeting Nathaniel for the first time, Jesus said that he was a man in whom there was no guile; or to put it more bluntly, he was honest to a fault, even scornful of Jesus - - initially. But Nathaniel was also quick to admit he was wrong - - he had misjudged Jesus. And he didn’t hesitate to set the record straight.

The combination of honesty and humility that earned Nathaniel a place in Jesus’ inner circle is exceedingly rare today. The surest sign that someone is being less than candid is when he or she starts by saying, “Let me be perfectly honest…or, “To tell the truth…”

It’s not the truth that is in short supply but rather the courage to speak the truth. For example, after examining more than 40 congressional debates, researchers concluded that "the truth" was spoken only 25 percent of the time. In 43 debates, only 11 key claims were primarily fact-based, another 16 were "unsubstantiated" and 16 blended fact with fiction.* The legislators routinely used half-truths, omissions and outright deception in order to make their point when debating welfare reform, estate taxes and telecommunications deregulation.

Of course, politicians aren’t the only ones who struggle with the truth. A 1997 article in “Psychology Today” magazine reported the results of a study, which found most people lie once or twice a day. Another study showed that 80 percent of job applicants lie on their resumes. And the Internal Revenue Service estimates that 10,000,000 of us fudge on our income tax returns.

But the most stunning statistic is the one cited by Dr. Charles Ford in his book,  "Lies! Lies!! Lies!!!" According to Ford, the average person lies seven times an hour - -  if you count all the times people lie to themselves. Self-deception may be the biggest stumbling block on a spiritual journey.

Discerning the truth takes wisdom. For Christians, the repository of that wisdom is the Bible wherein Jesus said, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6).

* Source: Gary Mucciaroni of Temple University and Paul J. Quirk of the University of British Columbia in their book, “Deliberative Choices: Debating Public Policy in Congress.”