The Value of Honesty
One of my goals for 2024 is to read my bible from Genesis to Revelation and to try my best to walk according to the standards and principles of God.
“Dishonest behavior as we said can be due to trying to keep something hidden”
Today I am at Genesis 27. As I read the scripture, I was reminded of the fall of man to the promise of redemption through the cruel death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
In Genesis, the beginning of humankind, I saw deceit, dishonesty, lies, anger, murderous intentions over a brother’s blessings, and gambling for the birthright. Not only for gambling of inheritance but also for acceptance, and love. I saw the deceitfulness of a mother to a favorite son, instead of waiting on God to work it out. I saw hatred and the belittlement of one’s inheritance.
In our society, I see all these things happening around us every day. In our homes, school, workplace, and in our community.
It made me reflect on my life growing up, my children, and my grandchildren. I think of my sisters, their children, and their children’s children. If we can’t be honest with ourselves, how can we be honest with the world at large?
What is it about honesty that terrifies humanity?
Again, I picked out truth and honesty because I am very passionate about being truthful and honest to each other.
Is truth and honesty not valuable anymore?
I paused for a while, after reading from Genesis and was working on a binding star quilt. The television was on and a program featuring a father and his two children was on. I believe it was a replay from a CBS program called, ‘Kindness 101.’ I was not paying much attention, then a voice said, “The word for the morning was, ‘Honesty.’
Immediately my ears popped up like a dog who had just heard something mysterious in the dead of the night.
Her name was Merrill.
“Honesty.”
This swelled my heart. The scripture came to me, “Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have perfected praise” (Psalms 8:3).
Out of the mouths of children, they want to be told the truth. Merrill says sometimes she tells lies, but not often.
Her brother, Jeff, asked, “Why do you lie?”
Her silence forced him to remind her, “In Sunday School our teacher told us that lies are not of God, and Satan is the father of lies.”
Still, Merrill remains silent.
“Do you not remember?” asked Jeff.
According to research, “the primary explanation individuals lie is low confidence. They need to dazzle, please, and let somebody know what they assume they need to hear. For instance, uncertain teens frequently lie to acquire social acknowledgment. Here, guardians ought to underscore to their youngsters the outcomes of lying. (https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content).
What does honesty mean to a child?
I immediately reached out to my granddaughter to talk about honesty and what does honesty mean to her?”
Her response was, “To me, honesty means telling the truth.”
Children like to be told the truth. My four-year-old granddaughter asked her dad a question and the answer he gave her didn’t satisfy her. She sat quietly thinking and then turned to him and said, “Daddy, you are definitely lying.” She did not settle until he told her what she thought the truth was.
I had written a while back that parents must be truthful to their children. When we tell children the truth and model it, we are teaching an important lesson. In my child development class in grad school, Albert Bandura, a psychologist who investigated the development of children stated that children often learn through observation and imitation. And so, when we as parents demonstrate dishonesty, children imitate these behaviors that they observed carrying it outside the home, into the schools and community.
One child says sometimes parents can be dishonest too. Yes, she is right. I saw it in my home as a child. My own mother wasn’t very honest. I thank God that among the six siblings, a few of us did not exhibit our mother’s traits.
This happened in Genesis with Rebekah. She did something blatantly unethical and pulled her son to do the same. She demonstrated deceit, manipulation, lying, dishonesty, and stealing which caused hatred and murderous intention.
I believe as parents we should be honest and truthful to our children. Hearing this child elaborate on honesty was a breath of fresh air. My children know that I hate dishonesty and lies.
Honesty implies you can be relied upon on the grounds that you don’t conceal things and you don’t do things that hurt others. Don’t play hide-and-seek with the truth, to kids. (pursuegodkids.org)
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