{"id":3821,"date":"2012-10-04T01:00:32","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T08:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.doorposts.com\/blog\/?p=3821"},"modified":"2012-10-03T22:23:20","modified_gmt":"2012-10-04T05:23:20","slug":"excuses-and-honesty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.doorposts.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/04\/excuses-and-honesty\/","title":{"rendered":"Excuses and Honesty"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u201cHe that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy\u201d<\/em> (Pr. 28:13).<\/p>\n

It is important for our children to \u201cput off\u201d lying and to \u201cput on\u201d honesty. Honesty and humility go hand in hand.<\/strong> The humble person is willing to honestly acknowledge his sin. The proud person covers it. God blesses the humble; He resists the proud. The proud man lies to himself and is unwilling to accept responsibility for his sinful actions and thoughts.<\/p>\n

We all struggle with the deception of our own hearts <\/strong>(Jer. 17:9).<\/strong> We lie to ourselves<\/em>. We\u2019re tempted to justify our thoughts and actions. We lie to others<\/em>, coloring the truth just a little<\/em> to make ourselves look not quite so bad when we make a mistake, or fail to do what we committed to do.<\/p>\n

A young adult who has matured physically while nursing the sin of dishonesty will have a difficult time growing spiritually, because he will not honestly evaluate his heart and actions in light of Scripture. Instead he will make excuses for his actions and deny the sinfulness of what he has done.<\/p>\n

Read accounts in the Bible of those who tried to blame others for their sin:<\/strong><\/p>\n