DAILY DEVOTIONAL – September 10, 2019

“Honest Dividends” 

Prayer:  Righteous God and Father, You are the only One who is trustworthy.  You have remained perfectly faithful to Your promises and done exactly what You said You would do; even giving Your only Son Jesus to die for us sinners.  Thank you Lord for being our sure Rock, and help us to proclaim Your faithfulness by living honest lives of good reputation.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 34:12-16

What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

Devotion – “Honest Dividends”

A customer who ate at Randy’s Southside Diner in Grand Junction, CO left the restaurant and also accidentally left behind $3,000 in a bank envelope at his booth.  Fortunately, his busboy was Johnny Duckworth.  Johnny gave it to his boss, who through the ATM bank slip in the envelope was able to track down the rightful owner.  The patron and owner of the forgotten $3,000 gave Johnny a $300 tip, but Johnny’s honesty continued to pay dividends.  Residents of Grand Junction, CO who heard the story started a “gofundme.com” page for the Johnny, who was struggling himself to make ends meet, and have raised nearly $4000 for the young man.  In an interview with the daily news, Johnny said he did not for a moment consider keeping the money, adding, “I work for a living.”

You, like me, have not likely had honesty pay so well for you. At least not financially. But, as the proverbial adage goes, “honesty does pay.”  How?  It pays…

• In pleasing our Lord.  Proverbs 12:22 says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.”
• In our witness.  1 Peter 2:12, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”
• In the enjoyment of life and experiencing good days.  As Scripture says in our Psalm form today from 34, “What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?  Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.”  Even when being honest proves to bring about difficulty or hardship, an honest and clean conscience makes a bad day good.
• In reputation. Honest builds businesses, friendships, leadership, and the like, when people have implicit confidence in your word.  Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.”
• In relationships. People trust you and are closer to you when you are honest with them. The opposite is true, too, that people keep their emotional distance from you if you are dishonest.  Ephesians 4:25, “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”
• In reliability. Who will people come to, lean on, and go to? Those who are honest.  Luke 16:10-12, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?”

When we as Christians are renowned for our kind honesty, we will draw a world in search of goodness and trustworthiness to the One God who is Truth and who cannot lie.  Numbers 23:19, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.”

At the end of the day, honesty is an act of faith and trust in Christ.  When we refuse to rely on and hope in the perceived benefits that lying will bring us, we put ourselves in the hands of the Lord who gave Himself for us.  Our very hope and salvation are in Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

God bless you my friends, and remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow.  Amen.