2 Kings 12:15 – Dependability

2 Kings 12:15 They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty.

Imagine doing business this way. A promise and a handshake. Are you as good as your word? Do you act with complete honesty? It’s rare in this day and age to find someone that will trust you enough and to find someone trustworthy enough to carry out business decisions without micromanaging every last detail.

As Christians, we’re supposed to be like this. We are supposed to be the ones that our bosses can count on to get our jobs done. We are supposed to be the ones that are accountable, that can be trusted, that are dependable. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. Contrast verse 15 with verse 6, “But by the twenty-third year of King Joash the priests still had not repaired the temple.” The priests had been collecting money towards repairing the temps for 23 years and still hadn’t begun the work. They were just pocketing the money, I guess. King Joash finally had enough and told them that they had their chance, he’d take care of it instead.

Imagine having to go outside the temple to find people that were trustworthy and honest! That’s a said testimony on the state of the priests at that time. Most within the church today are upright, hardworking, and dependable. But it just takes one bad apple for the world to accuse the church of the same thing. And, unfortunately, we’ve had our share of misuse in the body. 1 Timothy 3 gives us a list of the qualities that we should be striving towards. This list includes: above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, and have a good reputation with outsiders.

I know I’ve blown it time and again. But today, let’s start anew at striving toward living this way. Wouldn’t it be a great witness to the world around us if others said about us that we “acted with complete honesty.”

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16