Articles
Honesty Pays
A preacher boarded a bus one day and paid his fare. When he got to his seat he
discovered that the driver had given him too much change. He returned to the driver and
explained what had happened. “I know,” said the driver, “I heard you preach that sermon
yesterday on honesty, and I just wanted to see if you practice what you preach.”
It’s always right to be truthful and honest. One’s falsehoods always have a way of
catching up with him just like the man who ran a meat market.
It was Saturday afternoon and a lady came in and asked for a chicken. He reached down
and pulled his last chicken out of the cooler and placed it on the scales. When she said she
wanted a little larger one, he simply put it back into the cooler, brought it out, and placed it on
the scales again and quoted a heavier weight. Imagine his embarrassment when the lady said,
“I’ll take both of them.”
The apostle Paul admonishes, “Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any
praise, think on these things. The things which you both learned, received, heard, and saw in me,
these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4:8-9). “That you may
walk honestly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing” (1 Thessalonians
4:12). Honesty pays! ~ Walter Buchanan
