HONESTY WITH OURSELVES

Our first challenge is to learn to be honest with ourselves. It is very easy for us as imperfect humans to succumb to self-deception. For instance, Jesus told the Christians in Laodicea that they had fooled themselves into thinking that they were rich when, in fact, they were “poor and blind and naked” spiritually—a truly pitiable state. (Revelation 3:17) http://biblize.com/search?q=Revelation+3:17&q_scope=

Their self-deception only made their situation more dangerous.

You may recall, too, that the disciple James warned: “If any man seems to himself to be a formal worshiper and yet does not bridle his tongue, but goes on deceiving his own heart, this man’s form of worship is futile.” (James 1:26) http://biblize.com/search?q=James+1:26&q_scope=

If we were to reason that we could misuse our tongue and still worship Jehovah acceptably, we would succeed only in deceiving our own heart. Our worship of Jehovah would be futile, an utter waste. What can keep us from such a sad course?

In that same passage, James likens the truth of God’s word to a mirror. He advises us to peer into God’s perfect law and make adjustments accordingly. (James 1:23-25) http://biblize.com/search?q=James+1:23-25&q_scope=

The Bible can help us to be honest with ourselves and to see what we need to do to improve. (Lamentations 3:40;http://biblize.com/search?q=Lamentations+3:40&q_scope=

Haggai 1:5) http://biblize.com/search?q=Haggai+1:5&q_scope=

We may also pray to Jehovah and ask him to examine us, helping us to see and to address any serious flaws. (Psalm 139:23, 24) http://biblize.com/search?q=Psalm+139:23,+24&q_scope=

Dishonesty is an insidious weakness, and we need to view it as our heavenly Father does. Proverbs 3:32 says: “The devious person is a detestable thing to Jehovah, but His intimacy is with the upright ones.” Jehovah can help us to feel as he does and to see ourselves as he sees us. Remember that Paul said: “We wish to conduct ourselves honestly.” We cannot be perfect now, but we sincerely desire and earnestly seek to be honest.

HONESTY IN THE FAMILY

Honesty should be a hallmark of the Christian family. Husband and wife, then, must be open and honest with each other. There is no room in a Christian marriage for such hurtful, unclean practices as flirting with those outside the marriage, cultivating clandestine relationships via the Internet, or using pornography in any form. Some married Christians have taken up such wrong conduct while concealing it from an innocent mate. Doing so is dishonest. Notice the words of faithful King David: “I have not sat with men of untruth; and with those who hide what they are I do not come in.” (Psalm 26:4)http://biblize.com/search?q=Psalm+26:4&q_scope=

If you are married, never engage in conduct that might tempt you to hide what you are from your mate!

In teaching their children the value of honesty, parents are wise to make use of Bible examples. On the negative side, there are such accounts as that of Achan, who stole and attempted to cover his theft; Gehazi, who lied for the sake of financial gain; and Judas, who stole and lied spitefully to harm Jesus.—Joshua 6:17-19; 7:11-25; 2 Kings 5:14-16, 20-27; Matthew 26:14, 15; John 12:6.
http://biblize.com/search?q=John+12:6&q_scope=
On the positive side, there are such accounts as that of Jacob, who urged his sons to return money they found in their bags because he felt that it might have been put there by mistake; that of Jephthah and his daughter, who honored her father’s vow at great personal sacrifice; and that of Jesus, who bravely identified himself before a vicious mob in order to fulfill prophecy and protect his friends. (Genesis 43:12; Judges 11:30-40; John 18:3-11) http://biblize.com/search?q=John+18:3-11&q_scope=

This partial list may give parents a taste of the riches found in God’s Word that can help them teach their children to love and value honesty.

Such teaching places an important obligation on parents. The apostle Paul asked: “Do you, however, the one teaching someone else, not teach yourself? You, the one preaching ‘Do not steal,’ do you steal?” (Romans 2:21) http://biblize.com/search?q=Romans+2:21&q_scope=

Some parents confuse their children by teaching about honesty while acting dishonestly themselves. They may justify petty theft and deceptive words with such excuses as “Oh, they expect people to take these things” or “That was just a little white lie, a fib.” In reality, stealing is stealing, regardless of the value of the item stolen, and lying is lying, regardless of the subject matter or the scope of the untruth. (Luke 16:10)http://biblize.com/search?q=Luke+16:10&q_scope=

Children are quick to detect hypocrisy and may be seriously damaged by it. (Ephesians 6:4) http://biblize.com/search?q=Ephesians+6:4&q_scope=

However, when they learn honesty from their parents’ examples, they may well grow up to glorify Jehovah in this dishonest world.—Proverbs 22:6http://biblize.com/search?q=Proverbs+22:6&q_scope=

Honesty

Honesty is speaking truth and creating trust in minds of others. This includes all varieties of communication, both verbal and non-verbal. Honesty implies a lack of deceit. A statement can be strictly true and still be dishonest if the intention of the statement is to deceive its audience. Similarly, a falsehood can be spoken honestly if the speaker actually believes it to be true assuming the speaker objectively weighs the evidence to support that belief. Conversely, dishonesty can be defined simply as behavior that is performed with intent to deceive. Lying by commission, lying by omission, fraud, and plagiarism are all examples of this sort of behavior. Other examples can be doing one thing and telling the other, as if you are hiding something.

Honesty is typically considered virtuous behavior, and has strong positive connotations in most situations.