Church Talk: Why Is It Important To Be Honest

After months of hiding when talks for sacrament were being given out, I was finally caught and hogtied into giving a talk. As my last one went swimmingly (eye-roll) I decided to take a different approach and ditch my heels for flats in case I ended up on the floor from my knees shaking too hard.

Enjoy my little talk. I am no way an expert talk-writer but I really tried. I still speak really fast but that will go away in time.

Why Is It Important To Be Honest?

By The Sassy Mormon

Good morning brothers and sisters.

            This morning, the topic which I will be sharing with you is “ Why Is It Important To Be Honest?”

            Growing up, we’ve always heard that honesty is the best policy. Drilled into our brains by our parents we’re taught from a young age that honesty is one of the golden traits we should always aspire to take with us through life.

It’s universally known that nobody likes a liar. We tend to avoid those who lie like the plague or an infectious disease; not trusting their words at face value but instead questioning their intentions based on their casual untruths.

The famed Greek fabulist and story-teller Aesop says.  He says ‘A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth’. How many people in our lives somehow find themselves placed in these less than flattering categories where despite their best efforts, we struggle to believe the words coming out of their mouths?

    There is a quote that says tell a lie once and all your truths become questionable. While lying may seem like the obvious way out of protecting feelings, avoiding awkward conversations and sometimes even lying for the fun of it, such habits should be never something we aspire to be while aiming to live Christ-like lives.

Speaking about about Christ-like lives, how does lying and being dishonest stifle our eternal purpose of one day returning to live with Heavenly Father in his celestial kingdom?

   In the book ‘For Strength of Youth’, one of the standards which aided me as I was preparing this talk was that of Honesty and Integrity. Before I had even skimmed the read beyond the first paragraph, there was so much food for thought that I spent the next few moments reading and re-reading so that I could truly understand and capture the deep meaning behind the words.

The first paragraph reads:

“Be honest with yourself, others, and God at all times. Being honest means choosing not to lie, steal, cheat, or deceive in any way. When you are honest, you build strength of character that will allow you to be of great service to God and others. You will be blessed with peace of mind and self-respect. You will be trusted by the Lord and will be worthy to enter into His holy temples.”

President Howard W Hunter says:

“If we would have the companionship of the Master and the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, we must be honest with ourselves, honest with God, and with our fellowmen. This results in true joy. When we are honest in all things, big and small, we experience peace of mind and a clear conscience. Our relationships are enriched because they are based on trust. And the greatest blessing that comes from being honest is that we are able to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost”

    The companionship of the Holy Ghost comes to those who throughout their lives seek to stand true to honest and pure principles. The spirit and companionship of Heavenly Father can’t exist in a murky vessel now can he? For the Holy Spirit to exist in us we must be clean and like brand new.

     That’s where repentance comes in. Each week we take the sacrament to renew the covenants we make at our baptism, promising to take upon ourselves the name of Christ as we embark on the week ahead. By partaking of bread and water, we press an invisible reboot button which gives us the ability to start the week ahead.

I will share with you a true story told to me by someone incredibly close to me.

     Almost twenty years ago, a mother picked her daughter up from school and took her to the grocery store. The mother had just gotten her salary and was about to do the shopping for the household for that month. Her daughter, a naturally inquisitive child normally didn’t see her mother after school until it was almost her bedtime as her work schedule meant that she was often running late dealing with processing large sums of money from patients at the orthodontic office where she worked.

     Not seeing her mom meant the daughter often was left to find her own way home with other children who lived in the neighborhood. It also meant the daughter also saw bad influences at a young age. As the grocery store was located on their way home, the children would stop most evenings and when no one was watching would steal snacks from off the shelves and slip out undetected. The daughter never took part but started to wonder if what the older children were doing was right.

    On that fateful evening shopping with her mom, the daughter after months of seeing this bad habit, finally gave into temptation and slipped a cheap chocolate wafer into her uniform pocket. Feeling proud of herself, she said nothing as her mother continued to shop.

    It was only when fate stepped in and after telling her mom she wanted to use the little girls room that her mom discovered the tiny chocolate in her daughter’s pocket and with tears in her eyes questioned how she had gotten it.

   After a few minutes the entire story came tumbling out. Being a really good mom, the daughter was led back to the store and taught the right away to do things as she paid for the chocolate. Then as they waited for the shuttle to arrive, the mom spoke to her daughter about why it wasn’t right to steal and follow the crowd to do evil.

   You may be asking how I know this much about this mother and daughter. And the truth is that the mother and daughter are in fact me and my own mother. The multitude may have led me as a young child to be dishonest and steal but with guidance (in this case from my mother) we can always find our way back on the right path.

   There may be times in our lives where we may be tempted to choose the easy way out. Life isn’t easy. Trials emerge and often times come at us faster than the previous one can fully disperse. A moment of weakness or slip of the tongue may allow for what we consider a ‘white lie’ to leave our lips.

   Think of honesty as a second layer we don each day like an extra SPF protection of sun screen. Without it we will be burned by the rays sun (or in this case the sins of this world) and slip into bad habits.

  I implore you all to speak with honesty, think with sincerity and act with integrity. In the novel Faust by the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe there is a quote by the main character which says

“Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living and truth loving,”

Brothers and sisters we are the fortunate ones.

   We’ve come to know the truth of this life and come to a fullness of understanding of Heavenly Father’s plan for us on this Earth. We have had the gospel restored to us so that we can live his truth on this earth. We have the love of the spirit within us that sets us on a lifelong journey to loving our fellow man, serving others and truly exemplifying what it means to be a child of a loving Heavenly Father.

I will leave with you my favorite hymn since joining the church. It says

 

Choose the right when a choice is placed before you

In the right, the Holy Spirit guides

And its light is forever shining oér you

When in the right your heart confides.

Choose the right! Choose the right!

Let wisdom mark the way before

In its light, choose the right!

And God will bless you evermore.

   Brothers and sisters. Let’s choose the right and honest path. It may be full of thorns and stones and may be weathered but let us remember that our path to our Heavenly Father is never smooth sailing. We will find potholes and numerous craters in Satan’s attempts to blur our vision and lead us away from our righteous journey.

I leave you with these things in the name of Jesus Christ

Amen.

Hope you enjoyed my talk. 

Love you guys so much from where ever you read this

Love The Sassy Mormon