One of the first conditions of spiritual power is that we should be absolutely honest. This means honesty in the handling of our own or other people’s property, honesty in the conduct of our business, honesty about borrowed books or money, honesty about taxes, honesty about the use of our own time or that of our employer, speaking the truth, avoiding exaggeration, no “white lies,” no gossip, no destructive criticism of others; but it means something still more important. We have to learn to be absolutely honest about ourselves. Few of us know the kind of people we really are, down in the depths of our inner being. Most of us live with a rosy haze of fantasy around our personality. We paint rather nice pictures of the kind of people we like to think we are, and seldom try to face the real truth about ourselves. God cannot do much with us until we get down to the trust about our inner lives. Are we willing for a friend who really cares for us, to tell us the truth about our personality as he sees it? (I must say that to find a friend who will be brutally honest is as rare as finding droppings under a rocking horse). Are we irritated and annoyed when anyone dares to suggest we are other than what we have imagined? The test of our honesty is both the readiness to let a friend tell us what he knows about us and a willingness on our part to tell him what we know about ourselves. God can do great things with a person utterly honest. Dishonesty defeats Him. The moment we are absolutely honest, God begins to do things in and through our lives.
John.
