Honesty is the best policy
“Honesty guides good people; dishonesty destroys treacherous people.”– Proverbs 11:3New Living Translation
“The integrity and moral courage of the upright will guide them,
But the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them.” (Amplified Version)
There is no doubt that ‘honesty’ is a sign of having integrity and morality. Honest people conscientiously avoid even the shading of the truth. Those who lie do so with no shame on their face, figuring no one will ever find out. Even if someone did happen to find out the one who lied would simply deny lying, which becomes a second lie. One lie gives birth to another lie, which gives birth to another and another and another … the cycle can be endless. I believe people are dishonest because, 1) they see lying as the only way out of certain situations, and 2) it seems so much easier than telling the truth. We don’t seem to realize that the one who made us from the dust of the earth knows our comings and goings and is always watching.
The Hebrew meaning of the root word ‘integrity’ is “complete”. A believer in Christ is to be honest in all circumstances, thus establishing a level of integrity or completeness. Without integrity one cannot be trusted. One that cannot be trusted is incomplete and crooked in all their ways.
Joseph, son of Jacob, was placed in a very precarious situation with his master’s wife. Joseph remained faithful to God by rebuffing all of the woman’s advances. Potiphar, his master, loved and trusted his servant Joseph, yet sided with his wife who accused Joseph of attempting to rape her. For this evil Joseph was thrown in jail. You can read this account in Genesis 39:6-12. Joseph’s integrity before God saw him thru his time in prison. The Lord orchestrated a scenario where Joseph eventually became a very important man in Egypt just at the time when famine had stripped Israel of all its crops. God knew what he was doing. Abide by the secular adage, which states: “Honesty is the best policy.” There is no substitute for personal integrity. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.
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