Thoughts on Today’s Verse…
From these words of the Lord Jesus, we can see that being an honest person is very important, for it is directly related to whether we can enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, if we want to enter God’s kingdom, we must become honest people like the innocent and simple children.
But in real life, we always tell lies and deceive people for our own profit, and cannot practice the truth about being honest people. So, how exactly can we be honest people? Let’s look at the following two passages, “You ought to know that God likes those who are honest. In essence, God is faithful, and so His words can always be trusted; His actions, furthermore, are faultless and unquestionable, which is why God likes those who are absolutely honest with Him. Honesty means giving your heart to God, being genuine with God in all things, being open with Him in all things, never hiding the facts, not trying to deceive those above and below you, and not doing things only to curry favor with God. In short, to be honest is to be pure in your actions and words, and to deceive neither God nor man” (“Three Admonitions”). “Be an honest person; pray to God to rid you of the deception in your heart. Purify yourself through prayer at all times, be moved by the Spirit of God through prayer, and your disposition will gradually change” (“Concerning the Practice of Prayer”).
From this, it can be seen that to be an honest person, we must give our hearts to God, accept God’s inspection no matter what we do, and we must also pray to God often, asking that God cleanse us of our treacherous intentions and help us to rid ourselves of our corrupt dispositions. In real life, especially, we must reflect on the intentions behind what we say and do. Are we just trying to protect our dignity, status and personal profit? When we discover that we have the desire to lie or deceive, we should come before God, confess our innermost thoughts to Him and ask that He reprove us, give us courage, and guide us to consciously betray our incorrect intentions, to open up about our corrupt disposition and what is on our mind and not to put on a false front—letting others see what we are truly like. By doing so, we can gradually discard our deceitfulness and disguises and live out the likeness of an honest person. When we consciously practice in this way, we can gain God’s blessing, will feel very grounded and peaceful in our hearts, and will experience ever greater spiritual release.
