Honesty
Flashback to the ‘70’s. Little Andrew is seated in the kitchen, eating cereal (BooBerry), getting ready for school. On in the background is news radio, WOOD AM, keeping us up to date with traffic, weather, and news. Also playing this morning is the newest hit by Billy Joel, you know the guy married to Christie Brinkley! “Honesty, is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue. Honesty is hardly ever heard, and mostly what I need from you.”
Things haven’t changed a whole lot, at least not for the better. We live in a time when we are starved for for truth and integrity. From politics to our personal relationships we wonder who we can trust? Whose “Yes is Yes” and whose “No is No”?
In another example ‘the more things change the more things stay the same’, Jesus takes up this very issue of integrity in our next stop in the Sermon for Life. Matthew 5:33-37 is once again heart excavation, this time with truth-telling in view. And like with anger or adultery, Jesus is inviting us to start with the person that we often have the most difficult time being honest with, ourselves. This heart excavation is hard work, but we stick at it because of the promise that we started with, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:3).
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash