Commit To Complete Honesty
“Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin, whose lives are lived in complete honesty.” Psalm 32:2, NLT
I am enjoying a bottle of “spring” water. Wow, it is so refreshing! It inspires me to conjure up images of water, pristine and pure, produced from springs whose origins are deep within the earth. But before you take a sip, check the small print on the back of the bottle. It states, “Source: Municipal Water Supply, Miami, Florida.” You mean my “spring” water comes from a tap somewhere in Dade County!?! It brings to mind the above verse.
Take special note of the last two words. Honesty, it seems, is an all or nothing proposition. Our synthetic society specializes in misleading and misrepresentation. We join in and fudge an expense account, overpromise our product’s potential, promise to deliver on deadlines we can not meet and console ourselves with, “It is okay because I am basically honest.”
The problem is that the Bible clearly demonstrates you can not compartmentalize integrity. If you compromise your commitment to integrity in one area of your life the consequences will contaminate the whole of who you are.
Let me provide an example. Remember King David? His most infamous integrity break – adultery (2 Samuel 11). Adultery is a sexual sin, but the fallout of this sin spreads far beyond the sexual arena of David’s life. His sin dramatically affected his family life, his political life, his vocational life, and devastated his spiritual life.
No wonder it is David who penned Psalm 32. He knew far too well the damage done when one’s integrity is incomplete. That is why he encourages us to commit to complete honesty.
QUESTION: How can I practice complete honesty today? What are the times and where are the people who pressure me to compromise or compartmentalize the truth?
“Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin, whose lives are lived in complete honesty.” Psalm 32:2, NLT
I am enjoying a bottle of “spring” water. Wow, it is so refreshing! It inspires me to conjure up images of water, pristine and pure, produced from springs whose origins are deep within the earth. But before you take a sip, check the small print on the back of the bottle. It states, “Source: Municipal Water Supply, Miami, Florida.” You mean my “spring” water comes from a tap somewhere in Dade County!?! It brings to mind the above verse.
Take special note of the last two words. Honesty, it seems, is an all or nothing proposition. Our synthetic society specializes in misleading and misrepresentation. We join in and fudge an expense account, overpromise our product’s potential, promise to deliver on deadlines we can not meet and console ourselves with, “It is okay because I am basically honest.”
The problem is that the Bible clearly demonstrates you can not compartmentalize integrity. If you compromise your commitment to integrity in one area of your life the consequences will contaminate the whole of who you are.
Let me provide an example. Remember King David? His most infamous integrity break – adultery (2 Samuel 11). Adultery is a sexual sin, but the fallout of this sin spreads far beyond the sexual arena of David’s life. His sin dramatically affected his family life, his political life, his vocational life, and devastated his spiritual life.
No wonder it is David who penned Psalm 32. He knew far too well the damage done when one’s integrity is incomplete. That is why he encourages us to commit to complete honesty.
QUESTION: How can I practice complete honesty today? What are the times and where are the people who pressure me to compromise or compartmentalize the truth?
RSS Feed