Honesty Is The Best Policy (Part 1)
It is likely that we have all experienced the dilemmas that are associated with lying. Life oftentimes brings us face to face with uncomfortable situations and difficult decisions. Perhaps you must explain why you did or did not do a certain thing. Maybe a friend asks for your honest opinion about this or that, and you would rather spare his/her feelings rather than say how you really feel. Rest assured, the Devil will see to it that lying will be the easy way out of any situation. Dishonesty is a constant temptation. Businesses are pressured to cut corners in order to compete for customers. False advertising, less-than- accurate weights and measures, and many other unethical, ungodly practices are employed regularly in business transactions on a daily basis, all under the guise of “competitive advantages.” No matter what form it may take, lying has a way of creating quandaries from which dishonesty had promised (albeit falsely) to keep us in the first place. A lie told generally requires another lie to be told in order to cover the first falsehood, a third to cover the second, and on and on it must continue, to the point that the web of lies soon entangles the perpetrator. By experience the overwhelming majority of us have learned that honesty is the best policy. Though the initial fallout from telling the truth may be unpleasant or difficult to face, it is always the better course of action, in addition to being that which pleases God.
The wise man Solomon wrote, “A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight” (Proverbs 11:1). Those who are so bent on making gain at the expense of others exhibit disdain for one of the fundamental laws of God. When asked about the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus replied, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). In another familiar passage, Jesus stated, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12). The right treatment of our fellow man is one of the foundational principles of God’s word, no matter what dispensation of time. Later in the book of Proverbs Solomon would record, “Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good” (Proverbs 20:23). A man who is unscrupulous in his business practices will manifest that same dishonest in other facets of his life as well: “The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them” (Proverbs 11:3). Dishonesty in practice speaks volumes about the heart of him who would practice such. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Jesus speaks of the importance of guarding the heart when he said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh” (Luke 6:45). A man who would use a false balance and diverse weights in his business practices is out of balance in his heart with regards to the Lord’s commands.”
-Patrick Morrison
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