Thursday, July 5, 2018

The one true quality of those who love God

Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash



Nothing pleases God more I’m sure than honesty in a person.
Honesty is in abundance in all good and faithful servants, and all true believers in Jesus genuinely seek God’s approval to the end of being called a ‘good and faithful servant’ (see Matthew 25:14-30). It becomes a number-one operating mandate for an ethic that simply can’t lose.
Honest people are honest about themselves, toward others in love, and before God. They believe honesty is both the cherished means and the blessed end of life, and their whole life is oriented toward such obedience of faith.
About Themselves
Honest people are truthful about themselves, especially their foibles. They know they’re flawed, but they don’t berate themselves, because they’re honest enough with themselves to know that perfectionism is folly; that to believe they can attain perfection is a lie they will not subscribe to.
They hold themselves to be responsible human beings who understand there are limits to responsibility; that they cannot always be responsible for others’ actions, yet they will never shirk their own responsibility.
They understand they will one day be held to account for all they did. They’re intrinsically motivated, therefore, to make good on that account today and all days, for every known transgression.
Honest people are humble, and their authenticity causes them to reflect and gain insight toward self-awareness, and any sincere person who is aware of an issue must strive earnestly to resolve that issue.
People who love God take the prayer in Psalm 139:23-24 seriously as their basis of relationship with God. They are able to hear God with respect to their own sin, their insecurity, fears, pride, and propensity to manipulate situations for self-gain. They hear God and they respond instinctively and diligently. Their life is an instrument in God’s hands for learning and mastery to this end.
Toward Others in Love
When we love God, we are compelled to be trustworthy and reliable in relationship. Lovers of God communicate with a sensitive candour, and they’re prepared to be honestly dealt with. They come across as logical and rationale and quickly-as-possible apologise when they break from that form.
This is how we will know them/ourselves:
by the fruit of their/our deeds
we will know them/us.
(Matthew 7:15-20)
You could almost say that for the person who is honest, nothing is impossible. They overcome their own fears and present a persona entirely comfortable in exposure to vulnerability, or they’re honest when they haven’t overcome their fears, when they’re not comfortable in exposure to vulnerability.
They’re open to becoming aware of when insecurity ransoms their peace, when they’re tempted to misuse their power. They’re honest about these insecurities that run virulent in all of us.
Of course, the honest person is ideally suited to every kind of life-giving and life-receiving relationship, especially marriage, because relationships thrive in a seedbed of honesty, where trust builds, and intimacy blossoms. And the marriage relationship is the halcyon of all these.
Above all, those ruled by honesty realise the need to be committed to all kinds of God-given relationships. They endeavour to see the bigger perspective in people who are problematic. But they also don’t abide in dishonesty. They keenly discern the presence of unsafe people in their midst. They know that God empowers them to kick the dust from their feet, but without permission to offend, and they have continued openness to see change in such an individual and pray for them.
Honest people respect people, because
they know how much they value being respected.
Their Allegiance to and Service under God
God will do anything for the person who is honest, as they put the Lord’s Kingdom and His righteousness first (Matthew 6:33), and God will give them the desires of their heart (Psalm 37:4), which is the desire of His heart; His will.
In honesty, a person deals with guilt and shame there and then, and sin cannot harbour and manifest into a problematic pattern of behaviour with a person who is honest.
***
You’ll know that this article is aspirational in nature — calling the writer and reader to the realm of virtue in honesty.
It is to God’s glory
when we commit ourselves
to honesty.

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