BE HONEST

 

BE HONEST

Prov. 11:3 Good people are guided by their honesty, treacherous people are destroyed by their dishonesty. NLT

You have heard it said many times, “Honesty is the best policy.” Everything that we do depends on honesty. Without honesty, there is no trust. And if there is no trust, there is no peace amongst men. We depend on honesty to make accurate decisions. We cringe when we discover someone has not been honest with us. It causes us to develop bad feelings towards them and often leads to bad consequences.

We all know that dishonest people are everywhere. We have to really be on our guard and unfortunately, be suspicious of people we don’t know. We live in a world where people are willing to do or say anything for personal gain. We find it to be true in the world and sadly in the church as well.

Honesty comes from a heart of integrity. Honest people know right from wrong and choose to do what is right, regardless of personal gain or not. Being honest often involves personal sacrifices. It often tests the genuineness of one’s character. We are confronted daily with opportunities to be dishonest in our dealings with one another. It is one of the reasons why it is good for the soul to often examine it to see if it is right with God.

Satan is a master at tempting us to compromise our integrity for the sake of our convenience or gain. He relentlessly tries to get us to be less than honest in our dealings or conversations with others. He is good at causing us to lie to ourselves about our relationship with God. He wants us to buy into the lie that we don’t have to be as careful about our soul’s character as God says we should be.

Being honest involves being honest with God as well. We only hurt ourselves when we try to be dishonest before God. Realistically, it is impossible for us to hide anything from God. He knows all about whatever it is that we try to withhold from Him so we might as well be upfront about it in the first place.

Dishonesty leads the soul away from God and results in very treacherous consequences. In order to be and do good in the sight of God, we must constantly and diligently stand guard over our souls. We must stay deeply connected with the Lord and be in His Word constantly so that we will be able to be honest with ourselves about ourselves and our dealings with others. It may not be convenient or pleasant to be a person of integrity who is honest in all things, but the rewards are eternal. It is far better to be honest and please God than it is to be dishonest and please others or one’s self.