Are you honest?

Are you honest?

Bible: Acts 5:1-14

Reading

The Lord [hates] lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy
(PROVERBS 12:22).

One magazine got more than 2,000 people to do a questionnaire about their honesty level. When asked, “How honest are you?” 48% said “very honest”, 50% said “kind of honest” and the other 2% said “not very honest”. 68% of those people admitted that they had stolen stuff from school or work. And 40% said that they would cheat on an exam if they knew they wouldn’t get caught. Ananias and Sapphira must have thought they could get away with lying (ACTS 5:1-11). But they quickly found out differently. Peter challenged them and told them that they had lied to the Holy Spirit. They died immediately (VV.5,10). At that time in the book of Acts, God knew it was important to keep His new church pure. He was going to use His people to transform the lives of others. But those Christians would lose their impact if it turned out they weren’t very honest—they’d just look like everyone else; nothing special. But because God kept the church honest and pure, the powerful story of Jesus kept spreading. “More and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number” (V.14). Let’s be the kind of people who are “trustworthy” (PROVERBS 12:22) so we can be used by God to make Jesus known.

ORK.

THERE ARE NO LEVELS OF HONESTY.

YOU EITHER ARE OR YOU’RE NOT.

                                      Youth Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries