Ten reflections on honesty

From last night's sermon on Exodus 21-23:

  1. Truth is freedom and lying is a slavery. You expend a great deal of energy propping up lies. In the end, you begin to believe your lies.
  2. Don't betray your friends, family or faith out of embarrassment. Be comfortable with who you are and who your people are.
  3. In work and in life, stand for what is true, over what is political.
  4. Strive for integrity in public and private, at church and at work, rather than being a different person in different parts of your life.
  5. Make it your ambition that your word be a very precious thing and that others value it. Resolve to be a honest, reliable, faithful, trustworthy person.
  6. This requires self-discipline and organisation.
  7. In Bible teaching, seek to be faithful to the text of Scripture, rather than making it say what you wish it said.
  8. Bind honesty together with love. Do not bully with the truth by being an emotional nudist, or by being overly blunt.
  9. A great thing about Facebook and the internet is that it forces much more of our lives into the public sphere, stopping us from being a different person in public.
  10. Honesty with ourselves will make us vulnerable, humble and repentant in leadership, evangelism and spirituality.