The test of honesty - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

What does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8.

The test of honesty
We used to cheat a lot in my class at the high school. I shall never forget the short speech that our maths teacher made one day before distributing our examination papers. "Today, my friends, I am setting you two exams: the first in geometry, the second in honesty. I hope you will pass both. If you fail in one, then preferably in geometry. You will have more opportunities to apply the principles of honesty in your career than geometrical theorems."

We must all, at some time or other and in various ways, pass this test of honesty. For example, what do we do at the supermarket when the cashier gives us too much change? "It was her mistake, not ours, after all." And when we fill in our income tax forms, do we intentionally omit something? "No-one will notice that."

My teacher was right. A person's moral conduct is far more important than the level of his learning or his income. Such behaviour demands first that one is true before God whom we cannot deceive, then that we reckon with Him, in other words, we admit our wrongdoings in his presence. It is thanks to the finished work of Jesus that God can take over the mounting debt that we owe Him.

Today's reading: Lamentations 2:11-22 · Psalms 44:1-8