Honesty is the Best Policy!

Have you ever been around a person who rarely tells the truth? How did that make you feel? For me, it makes me feel undervalued and disrespected – as if the person telling the lies thought they were the smartest person in the room and would never be caught. It also made me not trust anything the person said or did. If a person would lie to my face, what else would they do (Luke 16:10). If I couldn’t trust them, what did that mean for our relationship? How unhealthy was it? 

So, that informs how we should operate with the people around us. We should strive to be honest with people, whether in an intimate/familial relationship or as acquaintances. We should be honest even if it’s uncomfortable. If you want to be trusted, you have to be trustworthy and tell the truth as you know it. That is why as Christ followers when teaching or advising or ministering, it so important to stick with what the bible says and not add our opinions to it as if it were gospel. The Word speaks for itself, as the bible says let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4) for if God says a thing it is the Truth. 

But what about you? Do the people around you trust you? Can people trust what comes out of your mouth? Do you tell the truth when you speak? Do your actions line up with your words? In the area of trust, honesty and integrity work together (2 Cor 8:21). Honesty is to tell the truth or be true, whereas integrity is about having consistent behavior based on truth or religiously following moral principles (Prov 11:3). So, in essence, you can’t have integrity without honesty. 

So, where do you line up in this area? Is it one to change? This shows up in every part of your life. Your intimate relationships, your business relationships, your finances, your work, etc. Dishonesty has consequences that are usually detrimental and the longer it goes on, the more detrimental it becomes. Another issue is that when you’re not honest with others, it’s not likely your honest with yourself. And that is a dangerous place to be. 

If you can’t be honest with yourself, you will give others more power than they actually have. You will allow yourself to believe that others hold you back. You will allow yourself to believe that you can’t do any better. You will allow yourself to believe that things just happen to you. You will never see the hand you had in your outcomes. Most of the time, our outcomes are a result of the choices we’ve made (Gal 6:7). Until we admit those choices to ourselves and how we played a part in where we are, we will never seek to reflect and change them where needed. We will always be a victim? What lies are you telling yourself that cause you to be stagnant and unproductive? Stop it. Embrace the truth, get up and do something about it. There is hope. There is a way out. Ask God to give you wisdom for the next step (Jam 1:5). He is faithful and just to complete what He started (Phil 1:6-7).