What happened to honesty? Not superficial honesty. Not manipulative honesty to get something we want. REAL HONESTY. The kind of honesty modeled by Jesus.

It is crystal clear to me that Christ-like honesty has tumbled down today’s steep slope of moral relativism where everything is judged on a sliding scale to fit the new societal narrative. That makes it difficult for all of us to sort through what is real and unreal. To make matters worse, the relativistic society I just mentioned rationalizes dishonesty by trotting out these feeble tropes:

“Everyone is doing it.”
“It won’t hurt anyone.”
“I won’t get caught, no harm no foul.”

Dishonesty may come in the form of straight-out lies, false statements, half-truths, or innuendo. But honesty is so much more than the words we speak. For Christians, honesty is an expression of how we live authentic lives in Christ.

To purposely misrepresent God is a serious offense. Anyone who proclaims God’s truth has a big responsibility to be honest. If we profess to be Christians but are not guided by Christ, we are nothing more than the hypocritical Pharisees Jesus railed against in Matthew 23:28.

The Bible is crystal clear on all of this: Truth is right. Lying is wrong.

“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful.” Proverbs 12:22

Telling the truth shows others that we take our commitment to Christ seriously. And it guarantees that you won’t have to “remember your lines.”

I remind myself every day to read my honesty meter and ask God to convict me when the score is low. My goal is to always represent his truth in my words, actions, and relationships.

You might consider taking a look at your honesty meter today.