I spent the better part of my childhood becoming an expert in deception. Not the clever kind, mind you, more like the desperate, “I’m caught, but if I stick to my story, I can still get away with it” kind. My strategy was to maintain innocence at all costs.
Even when the facts were stacked against me.
Even when I was caught red-handed.
I was too young to see myself from my parents’ perspective. I thought I was protecting myself, but actually, I was unravelling any trust I had built with my parents.
My mom would often tell me the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf when I was a kid. She was trying to impress upon me a message.
There was finally the time when the lesson came knocking. I actually hadn’t done the thing I was being accused of and I begged my mom to believe me. I wanted her to take my side against my dad, a strict disciplinarian. But I could see it in her eyes… She wanted to believe me. But she couldn’t.
Because by that point, I’d lied too many times. I’d burned through their trust. And when I finally needed her belief, it wasn’t there.
It took me a long time — and a lot of broken trust — to finally understand that honesty isn’t just about being a “good person.” I learned that truth is the only thing sturdy enough to build trust on. And trust isn’t something you can fake.
Proverbs 11:3—“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”
Once you lose it, you feel it. The doubt in their eyes. The awkward conversations. And man, rebuilding that can be slow, painful and humbling.
Those painful lessons I learned as a kid are like barren soil I left behind. But somehow, God is planting something green and alive in that very ground — through my kids.
I see them making choices I never had the courage to make at their age—standing up for friends, owning their mistakes with humility, choosing honesty when it would be easier to hide.
Their school values character as much as academics, and teachers have told us how their integrity quietly impacts those around them. It’s small, but it’s exactly what Proverbs 11:11 describes—’Through the blessing of the upright, a city is exalted.
Proverbs 11:10-11—“When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy. Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.”
Little acts of truth make their world better, and not just their own corner of it.
Proverbs 11 keeps going. It doesn’t promise that the righteous will always prosper immediately or that the wicked won’t have some measure of success. But it does promise that integrity guides us.
And over time, righteousness will be rewarded in God’s timing. It’s a different kind of wealth — one that lasts far beyond this life. God’s economy operates differently than ours. When we give freely—whether that’s honesty, generosity, or grace—we don’t end up with less. In the divine mathematics of Proverbs, giving of yourself and your resources multiplies rather than subtracts.
Proverbs 11:24-25—“One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.”
There’s a fullness that comes from living this way, a satisfaction that outweighs the temporary comfort of self-protection.
Final Thought:
Deception hoards safety but leaves you empty; truth gives freely and builds a life.
Proverbs 11 reminds us that choosing truth — even when it’s awkward or costly — is never wasted. It’s not about getting it right every time, but about trusting that God is growing something real and lasting through each honest step. That’s the fruit of integrity: trust as a foundation that outlives us all.
What About You?
When was the last time telling the truth cost you something — but you did it anyway?
Who in your life lives with real integrity that makes you want to be better?
Where’s God pushing you right now to quit covering tracks and sow some truth?
Let me know what you think.