By Xi’en, United States
Now what brothers and sisters care about the most is how to be an honest person. Because we all know that the Lord Jesus once said, “And said, Truly I say to you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). God’s words told us clearly that only honest people are after God’s heart. Only when we become as little children can we be approved by God and enter the kingdom of heaven. And what should we do to be an honest person?
First, paying attention to be an honest person in prayer is the door to entry into life.
As a Christian, prayer is an indispensable part of our worship of God. However, we always say in our prayers, “Lord, I love You in my heart! Lord, Your word is the lamp to my feet, and the light to my path.” In fact, many times we are not able to put it into practice. We work hard for the future crown, treasure our future and fate, ending and destination, but haven’t the slightest love of God in our hearts. There are full of praise in our prayer, but when we encounter trials we are full of complaints, even deny God, judge and blaspheme God. Sometimes, we don’t know what to say in prayer, thus we say a few words which are forced and groundlessly, we even recite some scriptures of praising God. However, all these words don’t come from the bottom of our hearts, after we are done praying, we have no enjoyment or the touch of the Holy Spirit. When our family is sick, in order to have the help of God, we say some good words to God: “Lord, you are the almighty doctor, and as long as my family’s illness is healed, I will dedicate my whole being to you.” Yet after the illness, we never dedicate ourselves to God.
The scripture says, “when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him” (John 4:23). God likes us worshiping Him in spirit and truth. Therefore, we should open our hearts to God in prayer, truly seek and rely on God. No matter how many words we speak, we should speak from our hearts, and say what we think in our hearts without any falsehood, concealment or fancy rhetoric, nor the empty praise, or the wish to deceive God. God’s substance is faithful. God’s love for us is real, not false. He always treats us with faithfulness and sincerity and talks with us in direct words. So God loathes our prayers in falsehood and disguise, and He does not listen. As such, we should first start by being an honest person in prayers. We should come before God in trouble or committing sins, being a person with our outside and inside as one in front of God. This is the door to enter into being honest.
Second, to be an honest person, we must tell the truth and renounce lies. This is the most basic exercise in daily life.
The book of Proverbs says, “Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight” (Proverbs 12:22). The Lord Jesus told us, “But let your communication be, Yes, yes; No, no: for whatever is more than these comes of evil” (Matthew 5:37). The Lord hates those who say lies to deceive God. However, we tell too many lies in our daily life unconsciously and involuntarily. For example, we always say something not related to our interests when we talk with our sisters and brothers. If we commit serious transgressions, we will avoid communicating with others, lest they look down upon us. When we get along with others, we tell lies in order to protect our images and vanity, sometimes, we tell lies to satisfy our own fleshly interests and achieve our aims. We are not able to tell the truth, much less to be honest in our words.
Then how should we solve the problem of telling lies? We must pay strict attention to what we say, and begin from practicing speech according to facts. We must be strict and serious about it, and deliver every sentence based on facts. We absolutely cannot violate the conscience. We need to pay attention to reflecting upon ourselves, whether we are protecting our personal interests, and whether we have wrong intentions or mixed purposes. If we find any empty words, words that dilute the truth, or inaccurate words, we should take it seriously, practice telling the truth and speaking according to the facts. If we find ourselves lying and deceiving others, we have to face the facts, admit our mistakes, and actually do what God says. We will walk a great step if we carefully treat what we have said and what we have done without any falsity. As the Bible says, “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile” (1 Peter 3:10).
Third, being loyal to God and doing service dutifully are what an honest person should do.
The Lord Jesus said, “Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38). This is the standard asked by God for the service for Him: Fulfilling our responsibility and completing what God entrusts to us with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. We all assume that we are loyal to the Lord and are the ones who love Him. We think we are the good servants in the eyes of the Lord by working hard for Him no matter how bitter, or how tired. However, we still never realize that we have such performances: We work for the Lord outwardly, we just go through the process and have to do the work because of the position, instead of doing it well from the bottom of our hearts. When sisters and brothers need our support and help in difficulties, we just exhort them in biblical words, or speak doctrines, but we are not able to bring them the path to practice. We also have no sense of responsibility in the service for the Lord, and we are even satisfied to work before the pastor or elders who assigned our service, rather than consider what we do to care about God’s intentions. These services to God are not with all our heart and soul.
The scriptures here says, “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God; And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men” (Col 3:22-23). We all know, service is not to please anyone, but it is our duty as a created being. So we should come before the Lord and practice the Lord’s words when we do service, not just go through process or formality, but work for the Lord faithfully. This is an honest man in the eyes of the Lord. Each of us has our special skills and abilities. Some brothers and sisters can preach the gospel, bear fruits; some preach, some of them clean the church for many years and maintain the order in meetings. Whatever we do, we should practice what God says. Though there is lacking or deviation in our service, we should courageously face the facts and accept others’ help and guidance. When we make mistakes, we should not cover them up, disguise or distort the facts to shift blame on others, but we should pray and repent before God. We must take what we say and do seriously, make our words fit the reality, without the slightest falsehood, and accept the scrutiny of God’s Spirit. By doing this we can increase confidence in being an honest person and serve God’s will.
Fourth, an honest person should give his heart to God faithfully, which is the most crucial.
The Lord Jesus said, “This people draws near to me with their mouth, and honors me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matthew 15:8). God’s words warn us not to say nice things without God in our hearts. We should open our hearts to God, worship and love God with our true hearts. However, we believe in God just for our own intention without giving our hearts to God and making God our sovereign. Just like we once cried out to obey God, but when we encountered something, we did not seek God’s thoughts, rather, we did it on our own intention. We say that we love God and are willing to offer our whole life, but there are full of dealings in our hearts and we wish to gain greater blessings from the kingdom of heaven. We still walk on the path of believing in God based on our own intentions, but have yet to give our hearts to God.
As everyone knows, Job is a righteous man in the eyes of God. He gave his whole heart to God without considering or asking anything for himself. When thousands of his possessions were taken away and his children were killed, he did not complain about God. He also said, “And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). He gave his heart to God and was absolutely obedient to God, and therefore he was approved by God. Therefore, if we want to be an honest man, we must practice to give heart to God. There are several ways to bring heart to God: First, since we believe in God, we should let God take over in all things and submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements, and not do things based on our will. Second, apart from giving the things that serve God over to Him, we should choose our marriage, the objectives which we seek, and so on, based on God’s minds and requirements. We should practice as what we can do to satisfy God’s will. Third, we should seek God’s will in all things. Regardless of big or small matters, the servings, or the problems on work, we should deal with them and put them into practice according to God’s words. This surely is the most genuine dedication to give our hearts to God. Only being honest people in this way can we have the work of the Holy Spirit.
As above the four elements are the most fundamental to be an honest person. If you put in efforts to seek and practice, you will have the opportunity to be an honest person that is pleasing to God.
