Friday, April 18

Honesty and Truth

"The way of the guilty is devious, but the conduct of the innocent is upright." Proverbs 21:8 NIV

We all know the type; those people who are constantly 'up to no good.' Body language is out of control, eyes flirting around the landscape but never directly focused on yours. Nervous energy causing limbs to dart all over as their feet tap a tune that only they can feel. Inconsistencies in what they say, how they say it, and specific vagueness about targeted questions. It is clear that they are trying to hide something from you, and you may not know what it is, but the hairs on your neck are in full bloom because 'it just doesn't feel right.'

If they are a casual acquaintance, then we can guard against their deviousness and take appropriate steps to ensure we're not drawn into their evil intentions, whether they are intentional or subconscious. We can physically separate ourselves from the manipulation that our 'sixth sense' is klaxoning over. We can gently or not so gently tell the person NO. It is easy to do and somewhat harmless in the interaction that takes place within that context.

On the same hand, we are immediately drawn to those people who exude a 'aura of trustiness' in our lives, those who we can automatically tell we'll get a fair shake. We seek advice and wisdom from those wizen 'elders' and seek to implement them in our lives with full assurance that success will happen in the way we've been pointed.

We also know of the deception that always comes upon us when we distort, misinform, or even distract others from sin and lies in our own lives. Eventually it is exposed and the lies on top of lies we are constantly involved in speaking to cover the original sin roll over on us like a boulder. Guilt that we held at bay overwhelms us.

But it is the guilt of those we love, the deception of those near and dear, that causes the most destruction and chaos in our lives. The safe haven we may have come to expect would always be there, suddenly swept away in the distorted sin of adultery, addiction, or a turning away from the Father in Heaven. And we are marooned upon the floating debris of our suddenly corrupted life.

If you live your life hiding things from your loved ones; your spouse, your family, your children, and even friends who are the stability in troubled times, you will take more than yourself with you when the sin is discovered, the guilt felt fully, and the chaos of a life disrupted is revealed. Innocents; friends, spouses, and even children, will all face the challenges that come from ceding to sinful, deceitful ways.

But, if you stand your life openly, with no shadows of shaded sin or hidden guilt, you cannot fall and you cannot destroy anyone or anything. You will be standing; maybe not where you think you should be, and you may not be welcomed everywhere you may want to be, but you will be looked at as that 'wizen' person, who speaks the truth and shows it in their lives, and you will be respected.

Just my thoughts on a verse that God brought upon me today.