Mountian Top Livin' #2

In the last entry I introduced you to Matthew 5:33-37. Now let's draw some thoughts from it.

Be Honest
This is pretty simple. The spirit of the law and the focus of Jesus teaching is that we live as honest people. That means, don't craft your words to mean two things knowing that someone will take the wrong meaning, yet you can claim to be honest with them. Making your yes, yes and your no, no means, be clear and honest. Don't try to hide the truth.

Real honesty also means that we are not stretching or shrinking the truth. Often deception is accomplished be making the story less than it really was, or more than it really was. When we talk about others errors, we tend to stretch. When we talk about our own errors we tend to shrink. either way, stretching or shrinking the truth, putting on the spin, is obviously for our benefit and can often be extremely selfish. Sometimes this practice is also linked with gossip and telling stories about others.

Proverbs 12:19 says, "Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only for a moment." Your dishonesty will catch up with you. But when you speak honestly, you have nothing to fear, your words can stand the test of scrutiny and examination.

This is really a very simple truth, be honest.