To Be Honest With You

The sanctified body is one whose hands are clean. The stain of dishonesty is not on them, the withering blight of ill-gotten gain has not blistered them, the mark of violence is not found upon them. They have been separated from every occupation that could displease God or injure a fellow-man.  A.B. Simpson

I looked up the word honesty in the dictionary and one of the definitions it gave me is “freedom from deceit or fraud. 

One of the interesting phrases we often use and I have used it in the past is “I’ll be honest with you.” Do you ever say things and not really think about their meaning?  Has someone ever asked you to do something or asked you a question and you prefaced your response with “I’ll be honest with you.”  As opposed to what?  “I’ll be dishonest with you.” Does this statement mean if you don’t preface your statement with it that you will be dishonest in all your dealings. To use them becomes a habit so we spout them without thinking what our language is telling another person about us or if it even makes sense.

Why do we find it so hard to be honest with others?  Fear.  We are afraid of what the other person will think of us if we are honest with them.  As readers of my blog, I have told each of you more about myself than even my own family knows or I should say knew, since most of them read my blog too.  I have shared my fears with you, my shame, my insecurities and my sorrow.  If I can’t describe to you honestly who I really am then the devotionals I write are meaningless. 

The interesting thing is God already knows my fears, shame, insecurities and sorrows.  He knows all my secrets and yet He loves me anyway.  When we are able to understand that we have an all knowing God who loves us it gives us the freedom to let the rest go and be honest in everything we do. 

Freedom is what we get when we let go of our fear of what others think and focus on what God thinks.  We are free to be the person God wants us to be. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I have not always been honest in my dealings with others because I was afraid.  I was afraid they wouldn’t love me anymore.  When I focused my energy on being honest it freed me to understand others failings and to love them anyway.  The power of Your love set me free.  Free to be honest, free to love and free to be me. 

Scripture: “If I have walked with falsehood, or if my foot has hastened to deceit, let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity. If my step has turned from the way, or my heart walked after my eyes, or if any spot adheres to my hands, then let me sow, and another eat; Yes, let my harvest be rooted out.  Job 31:5-8