The Habit of Honesty

I really liked these two quotes on honesty from my devotional reading this morning.  If we don’t make honesty (and other Christian virtues) a habit, then as we say every week in worship during the confession, we’re fooling ourselves and the truth is not in us.  We must walk our talk.

“He that is habituated to deceptions and artificialities in trifles, will try in vain to be true in matters of importance;  for truth is a thing of habit rather than of will.  You cannot in any given case by any sudden and single effort will to be true, if the habit of your life has been insincerity.”

F.W. Robertson

 

“The essence of lying is in deception, not in words;  a lie may be told by silence, by equivocation, by the accent on a syllable, by a glance of the eye attaching a peculiar significance to a sentence;  and all these kinds of lies are worse and baser than a lie plainly worded;  so that no form of blinded conscience is so far sunk as that which comforts itself for having deceived because the deception was by gesture or silence instead of utterance.”

J. Ruskin

 

Searched and Known #2

Don’t we often behave as if God doesn’t know what we’re doing, hear what we’re saying, know what we’re thinking?  We go right along in our lives sinning away thinking that God isn’t paying attention.  We think we’re going to get away with something with God because the guy who lives next door or the spouse who sleeps next to you doesn’t know about it.  Yet the psalmist here tells us that God has searched us and known us—and that means in every single moment of our lives, from conception to death.

 God knows us more intimately than we know ourselves.  And that means we who are His chosen people must examine ourselves and repent of our sins before Him.  Christ has paid the price for our sins, He has borne our punishment, He has done all that is necessary for our salvation, but I’m not talking about salvation, I’m talking about being in a right relationship with God during this life.  Sin separates us from God even when we are saved.  It puts a barrier up between Him and us that keeps us from fully enjoying the grace He shows to us.  Repentance is about restoring a proper relationship with God after we have come to faith in Christ and believed in His atoning work.

 I suspect most of us have had difficulties with relationships in our lives.  We want to have a close relationship with someone, but there is always something that stands in the way.  Quite often that something has to do with a refusal to address differences and what seems an inability on someone’s part to repent of that feeling.  Central to all sin is the ego of man.  We want to be first and best, or at least we want people to think we are first and best.  It’s hard to go to someone and admit that you’re a failure or that you’ve not been the person that you should have been.  That failure builds walls that separate and isolate us.

 Surprisingly, we often have exactly the same problem in our relationship with God as we do in our relationships with other people.  We don’t like admitting we are what we are—failures.  Certainly we make a confession in all of our worship services, but even then we can hold back a bit, we can’t not bring all of our sins to mind, we can even hope God will be completely satisfied by that once a week statement.  But that isn’t really true.  God wants you to be honest with yourself about what you have done and to truly repent of that so that you can experience true freedom in your life.

Honesty Required

This song came out a few years ago, and honestly I thought it was hysterical. Now, after trying to become a better Christian, I realize just how pathetic it is. My question to you is – How many times have you thought these things??? I have several times, not recently, but that is subject to change (because I am a work in progress, sometimes it is a good day, more often it is not).

“Pray For You”

I haven’t been to church since I don’t remember when
Things were goin’ great ’til they fell apart again
So I listened to the preacher as he told me what to do
He said you can’t go hatin’ others who have done wrong to you
Sometimes we get angry, but we must not condemn
Let the good Lord do His job and you just pray for them

I pray your brakes go out runnin’ down a hill
I pray a flowerpot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you’re flyin’ high when your engine stalls
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know wherever you are honey, I pray for you

I’m really glad I found my way to church
‘Cause I’m already feelin’ better and I thank God for the words
Yeah I’m goin’ take the high road
And do what the preacher told me to do
You keep messin’ up and I’ll keep prayin’ for you

I pray your tire blows out at 110
I pray you pass out drunk with your best friend and wake up with his and her tattoos

I pray your brakes go out runnin’ down a hill
I pray a flowerpot falls from a window sill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you’re flyin’ high when your engine stalls
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know wherever you are, near or far, in your house or in your car,
wherever you are honey, I pray for you.
I pray for you

Let us see how honest we can be to ourselves. I have already admitted my shortcomings, will you??

Always remember
God Loves You And So Do I

Michele