I don’t know what your experience has been, but I have found that if someone feels the need to tell you that they’re honest you should be on your guard. An expectation of integrity seems to be woven into our being. Yes, we’re all born in sin and lying comes naturally, yet we have to learn mistrust. We expect that others are telling the truth until we discover that sometimes they don’t. We just know there’s something wrong with that, at least when someone else does it.

Whether you grew up in a Christian family or not, you were probably taught that lying is bad. In time you also learned that maybe sometimes it was not so bad. Maybe sometimes it’s even good. Is that so? Are there circumstances where being less than completely honest in word or deed is acceptable and even right, or might Jesus be calling us to a higher standard? How do we handle those situations in life that seem to demand that we stray from truth? Is honesty only about what we say?

This Sunday, I’ll be preaching at Bartimaeus Baptist Temple. I will be talking about how the concept of integrity is woven throughout the scripture from beginning to end, but we can get a clear picture of how Jesus would answer our questions just by looking at what He said. First, He says that He is the truth in John 14:6. If He embodies truth, then following Him requires pursuit of truth. Emulating Him means practicing truthfulness.

He also told us where lies come from. He says of Satan in John 8:44, “…He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Come and join us this Sunday as we explore how to live our lives with integrity. I’m looking forward to it. Honestly!