Who can you trust?

You can trust people who are basically honest, but not completely.  There are two things that get in the way. They may lack skill, talent, or resources to keep their promises or commitments or perform with the level of quality that is needed.  Or, you may not be able to trust someone to help reach objectives because they have a conflict of interest. Their objectives may be different than those needed.

A young woman once told me that she had been working in a managerial position for over a year. Worked extra hours and never complained about the workload. She felt she was an excellent employee.  It came as a shock to her to overhear her employer tell one of his friends that he did not trust her.  I asked her if she was ever dishonest with him, and she said he had not.  I asked her if inventory or cash ever came up missing, and she said no.  Then I asked her if she did what he asked, the way he asked, and for the reason he asked – and there was the problem. She felt she had better ideas, but her ideas often conflicted with his.  I advised her to go talk to him about it and see if that was the problem and she did; and it was. He could not trust her because she had different objectives than he.

Aullwood Road, Montgomery County, Ohio

In cases of politics, one politician or a constituent may recognize that a politician may be crooked, but because they have the same objectives they are “trusted” and even admired.  They will even excuse the outrageous lies and their deceitful schemes and back them in their elections, because they share political objectives.

In the case of American politics, I read a quote by one former presidential candidate say of a sitting president of the same party that he was the most dishonest person he ever met.

In the case of business and commissioned sales, greed kicks up unfair business practices and shady deals.  When push comes to shove, morals are often compromised.

As we previously discovered, having accurate information and believing truth is important to making the best decisions. It is also our individual responsibility to be upholders of truth and honest, and integrity to assure that we present complete and accurate information to others. This means we will have to place with the best interest of our neighbor ahead of our own.

What that means is for you and I to be trustworthy, we have to sacrifice our personal objectives to allow our neighbors to reach theirs; that is, of course, unless our objective is to put integrity first.

I personally believe that because of the LORD’s grace, that is to say His beneficent predisposition which is kindness, mercy, and love towards me, He is always looking for another reason to bless me – which He does. So I am very encouraged when I read “So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of righteousness. For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it… “ _{Proverbs 2:20-21}