You gotta be honest

Ephesians 6:14-17 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

To be honest, I've not been looking forward to this passage of scripture. I've always found it too cliche. I even get grumpy when zealous Christians use these images in reality. Just like the "Hedge of Protection" So, I was avoiding these verses just because I didn't want to talk about old Roman armor.

But let me pull out the words that haven't changed... truth, righteousness, readiness, faith, salvation, and the word of God.

Truth. Curses, I can tell already that I'm going to have to linger on this verse for a few days. 

Truth comes out in so many places. I didn't realize it when I was doing it, but this is a cornerstone in my life. Not that I'm 100% truthful, but that I expect it of myself and I desire truth in people.

When I was first dating, my number one rule was "you gotta' be honest." This came from a Bill Cosby routine in which he says that the pain of childbirth pales compared to a guy who puts his arm around a girl for 2.5 hours in a movie theater. I thought as a kid "How stupid. Why doesn't the guy just tell the girl he is uncomfortable and move?" (I know you are thinking I'm pretty whacky - but seriously, you don't want some girl missing the rest of the movie wondering why you moved your arm, right? Just tell the TRUTH!).

And so through Bill Cosby, I began to understand the wisdom of Truth. It not only played out in my dating relationships, but in school - do you know how many teachers I worked with and just told them the truth. "Look, I got cut from the varsity team - I went out with my folks instead of doing homework. Can I get it to you Monday?" I brought it into marriage and parenting. There are two things that can get you a spanking in our house, violence (hitting, kicking) and telling lies. (No - my wife does not tell me lies all the time).

What about the work place? Do you know what a reputation of telling the truth can do for your career? It was interesting sitting around in meetings about hiring new employees and hearing the secular people in the room saying "We need more people with solid integrity like ..." and then they named off all the Christians in the company.

I've found very little tolerance in my self when I deal with people who don't come out with the truth. They've created a home front where little white lies are acceptable. Come on! Kids can tell what a lie is, but they don't have the discernment to tell when to use it. And for that matter, it is obvious the Adults aren't using the right discernment. You should only lie when you are hiding a special surprise! Not when you want to get out of going to an event or answering the phone.

So, I may sound like I'm on a high horse here, but I'm not. I struggle with this area as much as the next person. But I do try. 

"You gotta be honest."