Category Archives: Truthfulness

Be Alert to The Times

“And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do…” (1 Chronicles 12:32).

The Bible makes a significant statement about the chosen men of Issachar. They were men who had “understanding of the times.” If ever there was a time we needed to be aware of what is taking place in our culture it’s now. We need to understand the times in which we live. As men especially, we need to be alert to the spiritual dangers which affect our families.

In today’s culture, we are seeing the fruits of a belief system that has rejected any idea of absolute truth. Some people say that it doesn’t matter what you believe – just so long as you live right. But what you believe determines how you live.

If you believe that you are the product of evolutionary chance and that you are not responsible to God for your actions, then that belief system will be reflected in your behavior. If you believe that you are created in the image of God and will one day stand before Him, then that will have a profound impact on how you live your life.

Postmodernism is the term used to describe the time period in which we currently live. A time in which we are told that everything is relative. What might be true for me is not necessarily true for everyone else. Truth, we are being told, is what you believe it to be. This kind of thinking now dominates our culture through the media and our education system.

But knowing the truth is the most important issue in life. Pilate asked the greatest question to the greatest authority – he asked Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Truth is God’s perception of reality, not ours. And the Bible is our source of ultimate truth. The more I seek God through His Word and understand who He is and what He requires of me, the more I understand what is true.

If ever there was a time we needed to get back to the absolute truth and authority of the Bible, it’s now. Make sure that you pass on to your children the conviction that God’s Word is our source of ultimate Truth – not Hollywood or the media; not their teachers at school or lecturers at university; not their peers or even what they feel in their emotions.

Truth is what God says and it’s who God is. And whatever contradicts the words and character of God cannot ever be truth.

Morris Hull, Home Life Ministries

Christ’s Imputed Righteousness

In John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress, Christian is on his way to the Holy City. Along the way he meets Apollyon (or Satan). Satan accuses Christian of being unfaithful to God. Christian replies, “Wherein, O Apollyon! have I been unfaithful to him?” Satan answers, “Thou didst faint at first setting out, when thou wast almost choked in the Gulf of Despond; thou didst attempt wrong ways to be rid of thy burden, whereas thou shouldest have stayed till thy Prince had taken it off; thou didst sinfully sleep and lose thy choice thing; thou wast, also, almost persuaded to go back at the sight of the lions; and when thou talkest of thy journey, and of what thou hast heard and seen, thou art inwardly desirous of vain-glory in all that thou sayest or doest.”

Here Satan reminds Christian of his many sins. He accuses him of being unfaithful. But listen to Christian’s response: “All this is true, and much more which thou hast left out; but the Prince whom I serve and honour is merciful, and ready to forgive; but, besides, these infirmities possessed me in thy country…and I have groaned under them, been sorry for them, and have obtained pardon of my Prince.”

Christian was using the breastplate of righteousness to protect him from the ruthless accusations of the enemy. He reminded himself and Satan that he had been pardoned of his sin and he was clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Mark Bubeck says, “There is no stronger protection against Satan’s accusations about our unworthiness than to keep this truth of ‘imputed righteousness’ ever before our minds.”

Five Probing Questions on Truthfulness

  • Have you corrected the lies that you told in the past and asked forgiveness for them?
  • Do you tend to exaggerate the facts in order to gain approval from others?
  • Have you made right any cheating on past tests?
  • Do you tell God the precise sins which you commit and ask His forgiveness?
  • Have you ever boasted to your children that a clerk undercharged you or that you found money or possessions on the street without turning them in?

Character Clues Game

Penny – Golden Rule Merchant

James Cash Penny’s first venture as a retail proprietor – a butchershop in Longmont, Colo. – opened in 1899 and failed almost immediately, after he refused to bribe an important local hotel chef with a weekly bottle of bourbon. “I lost everything I had,” said Penny, “but I learned never to compromise.”

Penny’s unwavering faith in the copybook maxims of his youth roused scepticism in a mercenary age, but his credo underlay his success. At his death in 1971, Penny, 95, left a 1.660-store empire that he built without compromising the stiff principles he had absorbed from three generations of Baptist preacher ancestors. He neither smoked nor drank, and for years demanded the same abstemious conduct from his employees. “I believe in adherence to the Golden Rule, faith in God and the country,” he often said. “I would rather be known as a Christian than a merchant.”

Until his final illness, he worked regularly at Penny’s mid-Manhattan headquarters, where he kept five secretaries busy with volumes of correspondence.

Time

Pass It On (Game)

As children sit or stand in a circle, whisper a message in the first child’s ear. The first child then whispers it to the next, being careful to accurately report the original message. Each child quietly passes the message to the next until it finally reaches the next child. The last child then tells the message out loud to compare it with the original message and see if everyone was truthful.

-Character First! Education Series 1, Booklet 3

What Honesty Did for Abraham Lincoln

He was called “Honest Abe.” This sobriquet was given to him at New Salem, Illinois, whither he went to take charge of the “country store” of one Orfutt, in 1831. He was about twenty-two years of age, awkward, bashful, but strictly upright. He took no advantage of the ignorance or necessities of customers, but represented goods just as they were, gave scripture measure and weight, and always hastened to correct mistakes.

One day he sold a bill of goods, amounting to two dollars and six cents, to Mrs. Ducan, living more than two miles away. On looking over the account again in the evening, before closing the store, he found that Mrs. Ducan paid him six cents too much. “That must be corrected to-night,” he said to himself; so, as soon as he had closed the shutters for the night, he posted away with the six cents surplus to her house. She was preparing to retire when he knocked at the door, and was very much surprised, on opening it, to see Orfutt’s clerk standing there. Apologising for the mistake, Lincoln deposited the six cents in her hand, and slept all the better that night for having corrected the error.

At another time, a woman came to the store late in the evening, when Lincoln was closing it, for a half pound of tea, which was weighed in haste. Immediately after she left, Lincoln locked the store and went home. On returning the next morning, his attention was called to the scales which had a four-ounce weight, instead of eight in them. He knew at once that he must have given the woman a quarter instead of a half pound of tea. Weighing another quarter of a pound, he closed the store and delivered it to the customer, asking her pardon, before commencing the labours of the day.

Such examples of honesty were not overlooked by the public. Men and women talked about them, and extolled the author of them. They led, also, to something more. In that part of the country, at that time, various games prevailed in which two sides enlisted; and it was the custom to appoint an umpire for each game. Lincoln became the universal umpire, both sides insisting upon his appointment on account of his fairness. His honesty won the confidence of all.

One Henry McHenry planned a horse-race, and applied to Lincoln to act as judge…the party against whom his judgment weighed, said, “Lincoln is the fairest man I ever had to deal with. If he is in this country when I die, I want him to be my administrator, for he is the only man I ever met with that was wholly and unselfishly honest.”

Dr. Holland said, “When Lincoln terminated his labours for Orfutt, every one trusted him. He was judge, arbitrator, referee, umpire, authority on all disputes, games, and matches of man-flesh and horse-flesh; a pacificator in all quarrels; everybody’s friend; the best natured, the most sensible, the best informed, the most modest and unassuming, the kindest, gentlest, roughest, strongest, best young fellow in all New Salem and the region round about.”

This is a just encomium; but it never could have been said of him but for his unbending honesty, a quality for which he was known from his boyhood. The honest boy makes the honest man.

When Lincoln became a lawyer, he carried to the bar this habitual honesty. His associates were often surprised by his utter disregard of self interest, while they could but admire his conscientious defence of what he considered right. One day a stranger called to secure his services.

“State your case,” said Lincoln. A history of the case was given, when Lincoln astonished him by saying:—

“I cannot serve you; for you are wrong, and the other party is right.”

“That is none of your business, if I hire and pay you for taking the case ” retorted the man.

It is also available in pill, skin-patch, spray and gel form. http://www.slovak-republic.org/work/comment-page-2/ canadian cialis online The furnished plots with the stylish flooring give you the pleasure of the bulk cialis royal amenities. The presence of sildenafil citrate in Kamagra medication specifically affects the PDE-5 enzyme. order levitra on line The following precautions will help to ensure that you won’t face any complications or experience any unwanted side effects: Heavy Meals It is advised that you should avoid taking this medicine during high blood sugar level You should evade the medicine while going through high blood pressure If you are affected with any of these health disorders. “Not my business!” exclaimed I, Lincoln. ” My business is never to defend wrong, if I am a lawyer. I never undertake a case that is manifestly wrong. ”

“Well, you can make trouble for the fellow,” added the applicant.

“Yes,” replied Lincoln, fully aroused; “there is no doubt but that I can gain the case for you, and set a whole neighbourhood at loggerheads. I can distress a widowed mother and her six fatherless children, and thereby get for you six hundred dollars, which rightly belong as much to the woman and her children as they do to you; but I won’t do it.”

“Not for any amount of pay?” continued the stranger.

“Not for all you are worth,” replied Lincoln. ” You must remember that some things which are legally right are not morally right. I shall not take your case.”

“I don’t care a snap whether you do or not !” exclaimed the man, angrily, starting to go.

“I will give you a piece of advice without charge,” added Lincoln. “You seem to be a sprightly, energetic man. I would advise you to make six hundred dollars some other way.”

He undertook the celebrated Patterson trial, a case of murder, supposing the accused was innocent. Before the evidence was all in, he became satisfied that the man was guilty, and withdrew from the case, leaving his partner to conduct it. The accused was acquitted, but Lincoln would not take a cent of the one thousand dollars paid to his partner for services.

Lincoln’s professional life abounded with similar incidents, leading Judge David Davis to say, “The framework of his mental and moral being was honesty. He never took from a client, even when the cause was gained, more than he thought the service was worth and the client could afford to pay.”

The time came, in 1860, when Lincoln’s honesty was needed to save the nation. Slavery threatened to overthrow the Republic unless it was allowed to become universal. North and South there was distrust, alienation, and apprehension. The retiring President had governed for the South, in the interest of bondage. Loyal citizens had lost confidence in public men. The next President must be one whose character would challenge the respect and confidence of loyal people, or the ship of state would go under in the fearful storm gathering. Abraham Lincoln was the man. He could be trusted. Friends of the Union gave him their implicit confidence, and became a unit. His honesty had reached its highest value, and saved the Republic by destroying slavery.

Taken from Gaining Favor with God and Man by William M. Thayer, 1893

How to Demonstrate Truthfulness

to God

  • Clear your conscience by confessing secret sins
  • Realise that nothing is hid from God
  • Recognise that there is a cost of hiding from God (Proverbs 28:13)
  • Fulfil past promises and vows
  • Put on the “Belt of Truth”

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to Parents

  • Clear your conscience with them
  • Never promise anyone not to tell your parents
  • Seek your parents approval on all friendships
  • Do not secretly listen to music that you know your parents would disapprove
  • Share with your parents areas of moral weakness and ask for their help and protection

to your Employers

  • Be punctual
  • Respect your employer’s property and time
  • Refuse to compromise the truth in order to gain money

to your Church Leaders

  • Be accountable to your pastor or church leader
  • When you sing a hymn, ask yourself, “Do I really mean these words, or how can I make them true right now?”
  • Make sure that the music you listen to is true to the nature of God rather than the sound of the world

Some of the above material taken from Character First! Education Series 1, Booklet 3

 

Hymns and Choruses Related to Truthfulness

  • Have Thine Own Way, Lord! (Adelaide A. Pollard)
  • I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go (Mary Brown 19th Century)
  • Take My Life and Let It Be (Frances R. Havergal)
  • I Surrender All (Judson W. Van de Venter)
  • Is Your All on The Altar? (Eisha  A. Hoffman)

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