Being Trustworthy — Morning Devotions - Hope 103.2

Being Trustworthy — Morning Devotions

Trustworthiness means you are worthy of someone’s trust. People know they can trust you and believe in you because of the kind of person you are.

By Chris WittsSaturday 28 May 2022Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute

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Transcript:

One of the special traits of the Boy Scout Movement worldwide is their motto. I wonder if you’ve ever come across any of the statements from their handbook.

I have, and here is some of what it says:

A scout tells the truth. He keeps his promises. Honesty is part of his code of conduct. People can depend on him.

I wonder if we can think about that for a moment. In a world where dishonesty is rife and promises are not kept, it’s a wonderfully uplifting promise that the boy scouts make. I like the last part—People can depend on him. Are you a dependable person? Can people rely on your word?

I read somewhere of an online survey of 3,000 employees who were asked, Who do you go to for advice? It showed that only one person in 10 would turn to their immediate boss at work for workplace advice. But a quarter of them would turn to a colleague within their organisation for help, and 14% would go to someone outside of their work circle.

All these numbers are very low, which makes me ask, Why are people in authority not trusted? Is anyone trustworthy anymore?

In your place of employment, is there anyone you can trust? It’s not a good result for the workplace, is it?—where many of us spend many hours every week. Perhaps we’ve become so disillusioned we don’t trust anyone anymore.

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It’s easy to become a bit cynical when you can’t trust people. It’s like a man who used to visit his tiny general grocery store every week for years. The manager had one staff named Jake who seemed to be lazy, never doing much work, in spite of the many years he was there. One day he wasn’t around. “Where’s Jake?” the man asked. “Oh, he retired” said the manager. “Then what are you going to do to fill the vacancy?” The answer was sadly, “Jake didn’t leave no vacancy.”

Trustworthy People

Isn’t it a shame when some people let you down and because of their dishonesty leave no mark of decency or truthfulness behind? Trustworthiness means you are worthy of someone’s trust. People know they can trust you and believe in you because of the kind of person you are. People who are trustworthy are often given a lot of responsibility because they can get the job done.

  • Who is one of the most trustworthy people you know?
  • What are some ways that you can show others around you that you are trustworthy?

You place great trust in the school education system when you send your kids to school, and hope they receive good balanced teaching. A trustworthy person usually has nothing to hide, and is usually kind and open and prepared to talk openly with you.

In 1998 an interesting film was released called A Simple Plan based on the novel of the same name. Three men are out hunting in the woods and find the wreckage of a single-engine plane. Inside they find $4 million dollars in cash. They figure out it is drug money so it wouldn’t be reported as lost. They devise a plan to divide the money three ways and live out their lives with this money. But the money changes things and distrust and murder are the results. The lure of money caused them to tell lies and be dishonest when confronted with the facts. It’s amazing what can turn people into cheating and telling lies.

In the New Testament we meet up with Zacchaeus, a tax collector who certainly was dishonest. He was the chief tax inspector who made himself very unpopular, even hated, because of his dishonesty with money. Rome stipulated the tax but any extra he kept for himself. He had grown wealthy by extortion and a social outcast. But one day in Jericho he met Jesus and Jesus spent some time with him in the tax collector’s house.

His life was changed by that meeting because he said he would give half his wealth to the poor and give back the money he had got dishonestly. His trust had been restored by meeting Jesus that day. No wonder Jesus said, “Salvation has come to this home today” (Luke 19:9 – NLT).