Honesty Is the Best Policy
February 9, 2010 (Tuesday)
I heard a pastor tell a story about his little son. Seems a poor and needy family came to the door of his home, and asked for help. The family was in need of clothing. While the pastor’s wife conversed with the lady at the door, the pastor’s young son took off his shoes and offered them to the poor little boy at the door. The pastor’s wife was touched by the generosity and compassion exhibited by her son, but was soon shocked back into reality when the little fella went to the closet and brought forth a shoe box with a brand new pair of shoes in it. “May I wear my new shoes now?” he asked.
That was many years ago, and the little boy has since grown up to become a respected adult. Here’s hoping his parents taught him the importance of sincerity and honesty.
Like the little boy, we also do good things for the wrong reasons.
Hardly anyone intentionally becomes a hypocrite. It happens gradually. It may start by our hiding our selfishness behind a cloak of generosity, like the little boy did with the shoes. But it grows. Little by little, we get into bad habits of doing slightly shady things, slowly but surely learning to manipulate others to get our way, all the while making it look like we are actually doing something good.
Jesus said, “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no,’ ‘no’ (Matt 5:37). When you tell the truth, you don’t need to try so hard to remember what you said. Deception and lies are Satan’s way of working. As a child of God, you need to remember that things are not done that way in your family. You know better.
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Exodus 20: 16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Proverbs 12: 22 ” Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal truthfully are his delight.”
II Corinthians 13:7, “Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified.”
I Peter 2: 12, “…having their conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
I Thessalonians 2 :1-20 Click to see the verses
James 5:12, “Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your ‘Yes’ be yes, and your ‘No,’ no, or you will be condemned.”
Proverbs 24:28. “..do not deceive with your lips.”
Colossians 3:9, “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds.”
Psalm 34: 13, “Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.”