Honesty With Ourselves
In a world where we are constantly looking for honest people, that quest seems to be getting more difficult. While it may seem that many choose to be ignorant of things going on and accept the false information fed us by politicians and the media, we find it very hard to choose the person who is actually honest and tells the truth. Truth is apparently relevant to whoever is speaking it, for we get different stories from all sides. But no matter how others treat the truth, it is important that we ourselves learn to be honest with ourselves. One way we can do this is to know ourselves and place upon ourselves the highest standards. Not standards of the world which can be manipulated, but the standards of God as revealed in the Bible.
The apostle Paul wrote of this in 1 Corinthians 4:4 "For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord."
If we would be honest with ourselves, we would choose the Lord's standards, and not human standards. The true test is to be candid and objective about our own situation. We do know that we can deceive ourselves. The Bible mentions that as well. We tend to view ourselves in a better light than we do others. Such tends to give us pride where it is not merited.
We have the "I'm better than you" syndrome which really is everyone else's problem as well. So we ignore problems in our lives, but have no problem identifying the problems in others. This is one reason Jesus told us to remove the log from our eye before we attempt to remove the speck from our brother's eye.
This is just as true in the spiritual realm as the physical. Knowing that God is the one who judges us should tell us that it is not up to us to determine if we are right in what we do. What is as plain as day to others might be invisible to us. We need a true humility to approach God every day as a sinner. Yes, we try our best to do things according to His word, but we fail. Our attitude should be such as to acknowledge our sins just as the Publican in Luke 18: "God, be merciful to me a sinner". So we need to get out of the "me mentality" and seek to learn the truth of God and apply it to ourselves. That is very difficult to be sure, but in the end we have to know that it is God who judges us and He has given us the standard by which we will be judged; the Bible.
By Carey Scott

Return to the General Articles page

Home / Bible studies / Bible Survey / Special Studies / General Articles / Non-Bible Articles / Sermons / Sermon Outlines / Links / Questions and Answers / What Saith The Scriptures /Daily Devotional / Correspondence Courses / What is the Church of Christ / Book: Christian Growth / Website Policy / E-mail / About Me /