By: Justin Dillenschneider, Director of Student Life
Week of March 14th, 2022
Honesty can be defined as the quality of speaking and acting truthfully. While many people would think primarily of speaking the truth when discussing honesty, actions are deeply intertwined with our words. Most people would say that someone who speaks one way but acts according to deceitful desires is a hypocrite. Paul addresses this in his letters to the churches in Corinth, Rome, and Ephesus and James also addresses this in his letter. Trust between two parties is built on the foundation of small moments where a person keeps their word when they have made a promise, or shows up to help when they could have stayed away. Trust is lost when someone (or both parties) chooses to act or speak deceitfully and for their own gain. As followers of Christ, we are to speak the truth and act according to it because we are one body and members of each other. We are not our own, but belong body and soul to God. This virtue is a daily habit that we must choose to cultivate and we need each other for accountability and encouragement!
Continue contemplating honesty by looking at this week’s scripture reading from
Ephesians 4:20-25 CSB
“20 But that is not how you came to know Christ, 21 assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to take off, your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, 23 to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on, the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. 25 Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another.”
We want to encourage you to have a conversation this week about the virtue of honesty.
Consider these discussion prompts together:
- What tempts you to fall into deceitfulness?
- Where have you seen people fall into outspokenness and critique? Where are you tempted to do so?
- What are some ways you see Christ correcting deceit or outspokenness in people in Scripture?
- How do we see the apostles and the early church modeling and celebrating honesty in their words and actions?