++Honesty++

Honesty

There is an old story about a father and his son. The father was getting on in years and grooming his son to take over his construction business when he retired. The son was engaged and was very anxious to be married to his beautiful bride. The father had wanted to take a vacation for a long time. So he called his son aside and said, “Son, I am going on vacation and I want you to build this large house for my favorite client while I’m away. There is one special thing about building this house. It is on a hillside so please make sure the foundation is wide, deep, and with bracing even though it will cost three times as much. I don’t want the foundation washed out by the rains, especially for this special client.”

The son started right away on the house. He could clearly see why the father had told him to build an extra strong foundation. The view was extraordinary but the terrain was steep and in a strong rain storm the foundation could be washed away, taking the whole house with it. But then the son started to think. I soon will own the business and by building a regular foundation it will be possible for me to save enough money to buy a small house, so I can get married to my beautiful Sarah quicker. Besides if it doesn’t rain hard the foundation will last for a couple of years. Then I can say it was a shift in the land that causes the foundation to break and get paid again when I have to repair the house.

The house was finished two days before the father returned from his vacation. The father went out to see how the house had turned out. The son was excited to see his father and find out how his vacation was. After visiting for a few minutes, the father wanted to know if everything had gone along as expected in constructing the house. The son replied everything had been done as planned except the foundation. The son then proudly said, “ I made a smart business decision on the foundation. I saved enough money by making a normal foundation to buy a little house for myself. See how I have put this fancy siding on to hide the foundation so the owner will never see how thin and shallow it is. Then when it washes away I can say there is nothing wrong with my construction. You are a fool for picking a poor building site and make him pay me to build him another house.”

The father’s face dropped as he looked at his son and said, “This house is your wedding gift from me, and when it rains hard you will have nothing to live in. Son you are the fool, for have cheated yourself out of a very lavish wedding gift.”

So it is in our lives when we actually believe lies can be used for gain, for we are only lying to ourselves. For God already knows the truth, and we are the fools who have cheated ourselves out of the many blessings God wants to give us.

Truth is the foundation of Heaven and earth. Anything not built solidly on the truth will not stand the test of time. We can cover up a foundation of half-truths and lies with avoidance and indifference; our lies can even be profitable and self-satisfying for a while. But sooner or later the rains will come, and everything built on a foundation of lies will come tumbling down; entrapping our souls in a pool of sin and misery, which will push us away from our God, which will keep us from becoming or remaining His children.

In the end we will be relieved that the truth is out, for there we will never any peace or security, when any day, anytime, our lies can be exposed showing us to be the foolish hypocrites who claim to love Jesus above all things . We will then realize how much easier it is to live in the truth, and wonder why anyone would want to live a life of lies which only enslave one to satan; instead of being set free through the grace of our Savior.

Jesus told us the truth would set us free. Only in truth can we find Jesus, and only in truth can we follow Him all the days of our lives.

*So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Jn 8:31-32 NASB+

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+ ESV “Scripture quotations marked [ESV] are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version,” copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good New Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”