Honesty – is it still the best policy?
Edwin Sandy (from the 1500s) is credited with coining the phrase “Honesty is the best policy”, and that Benjamin Franklin (in the 1700s) popularized it. Could we agree that even in 2021, honesty is highly valued and sought after by ethical, righteous people?
Am I honest? Are you? Ask these self-reflective questions and see how you fare:
1. Do I realize that God knows all my thoughts, motives, words, and actions?
2. Do I agree that I am the same person in private as I am in public?
3. Do I live by God’s 9th Commandment?
4. Do others know me as an honest, and therefore, respectable person? (Not ‘see me’ – appearances can be deceptive.)
5. Do I never use the word ‘Honestly’ because I always speak honestly?
6. Do I have no need to use profanity, swear words, and expletives, because truth doesn’t need to be pushed?
7. Do I wish for others to deal honestly with me?
I believe that honesty is the first foundational block of trust. When there is no honesty, there is no trust. When there is no trust, there is no healthy relationship. When there is no healthy relationship, there is no peace, no joy, but a life of suspicion and sourness. And that is not the kind of life Jesus promised His friends (John 10:10). Seems like Edwin Sandy was right😊 —
Jeba Moses
