The Alpha of Honesty

UV 3055/10000 The Alpha of Honesty

Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.
Hebrews 13 v 18

A good conscience is like a moral compass pointing us in the direction we should be moving each moment of our lives. It also points out to us the direction that we should avoid. It helps us navigate the uncertainties and complexities of life. It is also a lighthouse that illuminates the shore rocks that could wreck our lives. We need to steer clear of such perils in life. We need to pay the cost of honesty for its rewards are greater than the cost. There is a price to pay in terms of limiting the options we have to take short cuts or do things that seem to benefit us in the short run. We should count this cost and be willing to pay the price of honesty.

Paul defines honesty as having a good conscience before God and man. It implies that we need to do all that we need to do and avoid all that we should not be doing, that the Lord has commanded us specifically not to ever do. Our wills should be submitted to the control and leadership of the Holy Spirit to live in accordance with His word. To begin at the thought level, we should consistently think only thoughts that are worthy of the Lord, that are honest and not producing a feeling of guilt that we would want to hide from the holy presence of the Lord. Adam and Eve hid from the Lord after they fell into sin. We who are in Christ should hide in the Lord who both justifies us and sanctifies us.
We need grace in order to walk honestly without being ensnared by the enemy of our souls. If St Paul needed prayer of others so that he could live honestly before God in all things, how much more do you and I need prayer for such grace of the Lord. If there is something we have fallen short of the glory and goodness of God in our daily walk, we need to confess and obtain mercy of the Lord for that shortcoming and to receive grace to avoid that failing again.