ICS Daily Devotions
Be the Salt and Light by Being Trustworthy
Matthew 5:13 (NKJV) “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavour, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
Would you marry someone who is secretive, impossible to read, non-committal, inconsistent, keeps breaking promises, and never engages in real dialogues while they are courting you? Of course not! And don’t ever think that you can change them if they are unable to do all the above before marriage!
Therefore, when we say “Yes” at the altar that we are going to take someone to be our spouse and to stand with them in sickness and in health, we should honour our word and not abandon them to face sickness or pain alone when they need us most. If we say “Yes” to them, we will be with them for richer and poorer, and we should honour our word and pool our resources together to weather through the rough times.
Once trust is broken, the road to earning the trust of our spouse, business partners and community is a long and painful one. If trust is broken between covenant marriage partners, it will take years to rebuild the trust. Yet, we are all guilty of being too loose with our words especially in making promises without thinking through whether we can deliver them.
If we have lost our credibility as a businessman, a business partner, or a spouse, we have lost the testimony of being the salt and light in a darkened and deteriorating world! Jesus is revealing how we should be different from the world, especially in our word and commitment.
Matthew 5:37a (NKJV) But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’
What God is saying through this verse is that the righteous should mean what they say regardless of whether it is a “Yes” or a “No”. It will leave out all ambiguity and give no room for the devil to have a toehold in our lives. When we honour our words, it will develop trust and confidence with people whom we work, do business, and live our lives with.
So how can we develop trust with our words? It is good to be upfront, self-disclosing and maintain clarity in business plans or partnership agreements. Thereafter, this must be followed up by keeping all the promises stipulated in the agreements regardless of whether they are to our advantage. It is making good what we have promised and not making use of people. We should also be consistent in our action without twisting the agreements to suit us or to protect our interest, be fair and equitable with our dealings. This is loving our neighbours just as we love ourselves and doing unto to others as we want others to do unto ourselves.
Sermon Series: It Is More Precious Than Gold
