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Do You Want To Be Successful? - Good Advice for Young People of All Ages

By Jeffery Canaday, Youth Director, Calvary Baptist Church, Monticello, Florida

How to Glorify Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ With Your Life By Applying the Principles and Practices of Fundamental Independent Baptists.

Part VI – The Issue Of Honesty

If you ever want to amount to anything, if you ever expect to be truly great or good, it is imperative that HONESTY be in the forefront of your life. As you live your life and people get to know you, they should always first identify you as a Christian, but your second desire should be that it be said about you “that’s an honest person". No matter what you might see in the movies and on television, NO ONE wants to be around a dishonest person. I have had the opportunity to work with, hire and supervise many people and I can tell you an absolute truth, no employer, organization or company wants a dishonest employee, no one wants to leave or hand over their money or valuables to someone they know to be dishonest. No co-worker wants to set next to someone they can’t trust or believe what they say. No person wants a friend that continually betrays them because of dishonesty. You should do whatever it takes to have the reputation of being known as an honest person and you should always feel within yourself that you ARE HONEST! If you are aware that you are dishonest, you never can feel the independence that you should feel deep within yourself, you will never feel that you are truly noble, because you know, deep down, that you are not noble.

If you want to be a success, you must have a good conscience, in order to have a good conscience, you must have a good opinion of yourself, to have a good opinion of yourself, your plans and actions (past, present & future) should be an open book for everyone to see. Doing these things will make you feel that you are noble, it will give you a clear conscience and allow you to face your employer, the world, your accusers and most importantly, your Creator. You will have a strength and dependability of character that will be of immeasurable value to you for the rest of your life.

If you would have what you say be worth anything in this world, never say anything that misrepresents the truth. If you want to be in the business world and you continually lie about what you are selling, you will be found out and then what you say will be useless in your business, even if you start telling the truth.

Proverbs 11:1 says “A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.” Proverbs 12:19 says “The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”

Proverbs 16:11 says “A just weight and balance are the LORD'S…” These facts from the Holy Bible are simply telling us that we should always be truthful, we should never sell anything with a hidden fault but always represent what we are selling truthfully, tell the prospective buyer everything that is wrong with what you are selling and never charge more for your work or what you are selling than they are reasonably worth. If you are in a store and purchase something and the cashier makes a mistake in your favor, whether it be in counting what you are buying, weighing or measuring the goods, or giving you your change, always be as ready to correct mistakes in your favor as you would if they were against you. If you find something that you know must belong to someone else, return it to the owner if at all possible. Never, on purpose, try to hurt someone (physically or mentally) or their property and never spread lies about anyone to hurt them (or for any other reason for that matter). If you don’t get anything else out of reading this, please get this, we should always be honest with ourselves and, in doing so, we should actively fight for what is right and at the same time treat others justly. You must look out for your own self, when you are buying and selling and mixing with the world, you should keep an eye on your dealings as well as those of others. But be warned and be careful, law suits can be very expensive and should be avoided if possible, it is sometimes better to be a loser than make an enemy. If someone takes advantage of you and there is nothing you can do about it, let it go and don’t say anything. Forgive and forget, letting it go is better than having an enemy in addition to the wrong that has been done to you. Let it go, but make sure you learn from the experience and don’t let it happen to you again. Read 1^st Samuel, Chapter 24 to get an idea of what I’m talking about. David had the opportunity to kill King Saul, who was seeking to kill him, but David knew it was wrong, it was not his place to punish King Saul, but God’s. Remember, don’t seek revenge, it says in Romans 12:19 “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”