Honesty is a vital aspect of moral character, embodying virtues like integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness. It implies an absence of deception, cheating, or dishonest behavior, reflecting a commitment to ethical conduct.
Similarly, honesty also involves being trustworthy, loyal, fair, and sincere.
Truth is essential, yet we’ve all faced lies, even told them at times. We all desire honesty, expecting it from others. Jesus, the epitome of truth, calls us to be truthful, regardless of the situation or our closeness to others. He’s the Way, the Truth, the Life, and as committed Christians, we should follow His example.
This post explores how we can mirror godly character by prioritizing honesty, reflecting on the essence of being Christ-like.
Honesty is a rare virtue only faithful Christians have.
…that’s a hard comment to make, right? Yes, it is. Undoubtedly, God is faithful to His word so, every Christian has to be faithful to theirs too.
Our integrity test is in our actions and words. Are they founded on the word of God?
Honesty is towards God and man
“We are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man”. 2 Corin 8:21
Col 3:9 “Do not lie to each other…”. Lies telling is not acceptable as a Christian practice. Paul urges honesty to us.
Not surprisingly, liars are family members of the devil as seen in John 8:44.
Today, it’s common for some to remain silent or apathetic when they witness unholy actions from church friends and family. They justify this with statements like “I don’t want to hurt their feelings” or “I don’t want to judge them.”
However, these reasons should not serve as excuses for avoiding a loving, polite conversation to address the matter.
How to be honest
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. Eph 4:25.
Firstly, since we despise situations where people tell us lies, let’s be sincere enough to also be truthful to everyone.
Only those with pure hearts will see God, as Matthew said in chapter 5. Honesty in your heart is first directed towards God before people.
If we become committed to the word of God and study it daily, we will speak like Jesus with confidence and truthfulness in every situation.
What are the benefits of honesty?
When you are always honest, you become trustworthy, both in the eyes of God and in the eyes of your friends and family. Prov 12:22.
God is honorable, and He does what He says He will do.
God checks our integrity and intentions every time we do something. We need to be deliberate in everything we do.
I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. 1 Chron 29:17.
It’s important to align our actions with God’s truth.
We all recognize when we’re being truthful or tempted to tell a lie. The urge to be untruthful is a common experience that everyone faces at some point in life. Temptations are a part of our journey.
In the scriptures, we see even Jesus faced temptation from Satan, who tried to lead Him astray. However, the reassuring news is that we don’t have to give in to these temptations, just as Jesus didn’t yield to the demands of the adversary.
But as Apostle John counsels us in 1 John 3:18 “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth”, our actions and reactions should be in truthfulness.
Honesty reflection questions
Sometimes we act pretentiously in order to please our friends, but we need to sincerely examine ourselves before acting by asking ourselves some reflection questions
- “If Jesus were here now will He do what we are about to do?
- Will Jesus speak or respond to this person this way if He were here now?
- What l am about to do, has anyone in the scriptures ever done it?
- Will God be glorified in my action?…”
Let’s be bold towards ourselves and speak the truth to ourselves and others.
1 John 1:16 “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.”
Isn’t it funny we can lie to ourselves and even deceive ourselves! -how unbelievable but a reality.
We need to decide to consciously define ourselves in the mirror of God’s word and be ready at all times to encourage and share with our friends or family.
It’s untruthful to tell yourself “l am uninformed, foolish…” just because you made a mistake. We do this frequently, and later we start thinking we are foolish. We do not have to give up on ourselves after a mistake. Our real identity is what God says about us. God will never reject us because we weren’t truthful, but continually lying will affect our fellowship with him. Our relationship will never change.
We admonish you to choose to speak only God’s word to yourself, even after making a mistake. God loves you.
Find more encouragement here
