One of Jane Austen’s characters (somewhere) says that honesty is a greatly over-rated virtue. Of course we should not take this as a basis for justifying ungodly lies or other forms of unrighteous deceit. But at the same time, we should recognize that within the Church there are a number of verbal sins which are often committed for the sake of "honesty." In other words, an unscriptural standard of what constitutes real honesty is arbitrarily set up and then the advocate of this approach begins to create mayhem in the church. "Mrs. Schwartz, that is one ugly hat."

In this view, covering up sin must be a grievous sin. It is also thought that "holding back" any unwelcome views would also be dishonest sin. But however bad the phrase "cover-up" sounds in the ears of some, I have told people before that I am a pastor, and that I consequently cover things up for a living. The Bible tells us in effect to strive for this. Love covers up a multitude of sins, and does so in a quite different fashion than does hypocrisy. Bringing this lesson all back to the tongue should be quite simple. "A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter" (Prov. 11:13).

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Networking websites