Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Honest And Honesty

Honest or honesty. When we speak of honest or honesty we usually think of speaking, not lying but honesty is shown in what we do also.


II Corinthians 8:21; "Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men". God knows exactly what we do and what we think. There is nothing hidden from Him.

If you are at the checkout counter at the store, you pay for the things you have gotten. The cashier gives you back your change and you count it. A mistake has been made. The cashier has given you back five dollars to much. What do you do? Do you keep it or do you tell the cashier about it and return the money? What is the honest thing to do? The honest thing to do is to tell them about the mistake and give the money back to them.

If they short changed you by five dollars, I am sure you would let them know about it. It is usually an honest mistake.

If a person wants to sell something, a car or anything that is mechanical, no matter what a person might want to sell, they should be honest about the item. The seller should tell whoever might be wanting to buy it if there is anything wrong with it, no matter what the condition is. Dave just bought a used PDA, he didn't pay a lot of money for it but because the person selling it didn't say anything about the condition of the PDA he presumed it was in good condition. Wrong!! It does work but the outer case is in worse condition than what the one is that he already has. Now, Dave didn't ask about the condition so it is somewhat his fault but the seller didn't say anything either. There should have been some honesty here but there wasn't.

Whatever we do we need to do the honest thing. When people watch us Christians it is if we are being watched with a magnifying glass. It doesn't bother me that they do this, I want them to see the light of Jesus shinning through me. In our world today there are people that love to ridicule a Christian so if we do nothing but be honest in the sight of men, they will not have anything to ridicule us for.

We can be dishonest with our mouth. If someone asks you a question and you don't really want to say anything then it is better to just tell them you don't want to answer that question. Doing this keeps you from lying. I feel it is much better not to say anything than to lie about something. My mother always told me if a person tells a lie then they have to tell another lie to cover up that first lie. It then becomes a vicious circle. One lie after another. If the truth is told in the first place we don't have to worry about anything, we have been upfront. Telling a half truth is not good. Why tell or say something that is not completely true?

We must always remember to be honest in what we say or do. We are to act Christ like. We are being watched and we need the light of Jesus to shine through us at all times. Not just part of the time. When we are being watched we should always want them to see what a true Christian is like. We need to do that which is honest and of good report.

We need to walk in the righteousness of the Lord. We need to have the righteousness that comes from the heart based on true faith, love, and the fear of God.

Thanks for dropping by, I have enjoyed our visit. May you always know the love, joy, and peace, of the Lord.

2 comments:

Debi said...

It's easy to 'be honest' when someone short changes us with money or anything else...why, then is it not so easy to 'be honest' when the shoe is on the other foot. Several times I have had to 'give money back' when the cashier or teller or whomever gave me too much. I refuse to NOT be honest because I want people to be honest with me. I'm sorry about Dad's experience with the PDA. I am furious about it, but I should have been more 'on top of things' and told him to ask. We have learned a lesson. And more than anything...Honesty is the BEST policy!

Jenifer Metzger said...

There are so many way and reasons to be honest. Honest is so important. God desires this of us. Thank you for this reminder.