by Jim Hughes
Prov. 11:3 Good people are guided by their honesty, treacherous people are destroyed by their dishonesty.
You have heard it said many times, “Honesty is a good 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 genuiness 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. 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.
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.
About the Author:
Spending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.
C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one’s self from such failures.
I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn’t broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.
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