Risking Honesty

Shawn King / Pastor of Creative Arts and Online Ministry

God has been speaking to me a lot lately about risk. Maybe when you hear that word you think of jumping out of an airplane with a parachute. Or maybe you think of starting a new company that will test the breadth of your talents. Maybe it’s retirement; will there be enough to sustain us? But none of those are the risk I’m talking about.

I’m talking about the risk of relationships. There are so many circumstances in which we realize that a situation requires honesty, and the question becomes, what do I value more? Do I value the person in front of me, or do I value their good opinion of me?

I have felt God encourage me repeatedly in this season to honesty, trueness. He has reminded me that if I want to sense the acceptance and love of those around me, I must lay down all the possible pain that honesty could cause and give people a chance to surprise me.

Just to clarify, there is nothing blaringly wrong that I’m being coy about. It’s the simple kind of honesty that says “yes” when I think yes, and “no” when I think no. What’s crazy to me is that the more I am honest, the more I find people would rather have that honesty than the lie I thought would protect them, and ultimately me.

So that is my encouragement today. Wherever that hits your marriage, family, friendships, work environments … let’s take the risk. Let’s be a people marked by honesty and love.