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I was sharing with the students at Forestdale one morning for worship, about the importance of honesty. We were talking about honesty in school work and on tests. I stressed that it would be better to fail honestly then to pass dishonestly, and that there should never be a reason for us to cheat. We looked at Ps. 101:7 "He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight." Cheating is a serious matter in God's sight and a direct violation of the eighth commandment, "Thou shalt not steal."
Every year at this time we deal with filing our income taxes. We fill out those forms and put down all our deductions etc. It is a dreaded task, but we must do it. As Christians are we honest in reporting our income taxes? It is important that we are, for Christ said, "to render unto Ceaser the things that are Ceasers." We may not agree with how our taxes are being used but it is our duty to pay them. Christ also says to "Render unto God the things that are God's." So lets not forget to be honest in our tithes and offerings. Let us not cheat God..
We live in a world where cheating is common place. We see it in business, in the government, we see elderly people being cheated out of their life savings by some con-artist, but we should never see it among God's people. We as Christians are to be honest, just and upright. We are to stand out in the world and be above reproach.
I took my wife's car to the Honda dealer in Portland to have what we thought would be a couple of minor repairs. It was a pollution control problem, the E.G.R. valve. It fouled the spark plugs so they had to be replaced along with the spark plug wires and the distributor. The car had 83,000 miles on it when we took it in. The dealer said that the cost of the job was $500 but the company would take care of it as it was a common problem on the Honda. They could have charged us the $500 and we would not have known the difference. They were honest with us and we thanked them and let them know we would be back again not only for service but also to trade when the time comes. As we were leaving they said, by the way, we changed your oil also, no charge. We can feel confident that this dealer will treat us fairly and honestly. If people in the world, and I realize it is rare, recognize how important it is to be honest for business sake, isn't it even more important that we as Christians be honest for Christ's sake? We have valuable lessons to teach our children. *Have fun doing your taxes.
*Pastor Wright is not in any way being compensated by the IRS for writing this article.
HONEST
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