Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in
thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh
righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth
evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach
against his neighbour.
In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he
honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth
to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth
not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against
the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never
be moved (Psalm 15).
Psalm 15 gives us a biblical description of an
honorable man. Many have been blessed by
knowing such people in their lifetimes.
An Honorable Man
As a young man I understood honor because my
father raised me that way. I understood it because
both my grandfathers were honorable men; they
would rather die than lie. And my grandmothers
were honorable women.
I understand what the psalmist means when he
writes about the kind of honor “that sweareth to his
own hurt, and changeth not” (Psalm 15:4).
I understand and respect the kind of person
who is going to do the right thing regardless of
what it may cost. My dad lived this way in front of me.
He tithed from the day he and my mother
were married in 1927. On their wedding day
they made a commitment to one another and to
God that they would tithe every dollar God
gave them all the days of their married life.
God honored that commitment and supported
them through the years. They did not understand
many things He tried to teach them because they
knew very little about faith. However, the Lord took
care of them anyway. During the Great Depression my
dad never went 24 hours without a job.
Mother and Dad lived on an old, dry-land farm in
northwest Texas. The only things in abundance there
were sand and flies. Yet my daddy had a job because
God took care of them.
Eventually, a fellow hired Dad to work in the insurance
business. Dad was very successful at it; so just a few
weeks after he went with the company, he was moved
to Fort Worth as district manager. The man who hired
Dad had been planning for a long time to start his own
company. He was building up reserves while still working
for the company that hired my dad.
But this company had laws, rules and regulations
against the sort of thing this man was doing, and
some of it was even against the laws of the state of Texas.
This man finally announced he was starting his own company.
He had the money and backing to do it, but he needed
my father to make it work. He offered Dad a lot of money
and a big chunk of the company. He wanted Dad to do for
him in the new company exactly what he had been doing under
him with the other company. This man based a great deal of his
planning on Dad’s acceptance of his offer.
It came down to a lawsuit between Dad’s company
and this man. If they could prove he had done some
things wrong, it would cut off over $100,000 from his
new company’s financing. That was around 1956 when
$100,000 was a great deal of money. This man was
depending on that money to help establish his new
insurance business.
At the trial, my dad was the deciding witness.
If the lawyer asked him, “Has this man ever approached
you to work for him doing the same job you’re doing for
your present employers?” and Dad answered no, the
case would be closed. The man would get the
$100,000 financing, and my father would get a huge
chunk of stock and lots of money, along with a high position
and much prestige. If Dad testified that the man had
offered him a job with the new company he was planning
to start, the man would lose the $100,000 and Dad
would get the privilege of keeping his old job.
I was about 19 years old at the time, and was thinking:
Whew, what’s Dad going to do? If he takes the stand and
answers that question one way, he’s an instant multi-millionaire.
(The money was already in the till, and the stock was
already made out.) If he answers the other way, all
he gets is his old job.
Wondering what Dad was going to do, I watched as he
took the stand. He wasn’t a bit nervous or anxious.
He didn’t have any sweat breaking out on his brow.
I couldn’t believe he could be so calm.
The lawyer asked the question: “Did this man offer
you a job with his new company doing the same thing
that you are doing now?” Without a second’s hesitation
Dad answered, “Yes, he did.”
When it was over, he stood up and walked away.
He left all that money lying on the table and
the stock untouched. Later I said, “Boy, Dad,
how did you keep from saying what that man
wanted you to say?” “It would have been a lie.”
It was as simple as that. To get that money, that stock,
that position, Dad would have had to lie. There was
never any question in his mind. He just went right on
with his business. He gave no more thought to the matter.
Every time he would see the man he had testified against,
he would walk up, shake his hand and ask how the new
company was coming along. That man had such respect
for my dad; he loved my dad all his life.
My father is over 80 years old now. His word is still
yea or nay. One of the reasons he is so quick to tell
the truth is because it is the honorable thing to do.
He learned early in life the meaning of honor.
admin Gloria Copeland, Kenneth Copeland, kenneth copeland ministries commitment, honor
