When I was growing up as a kid, I remember several times when my dad would make agreements that were secured by way of a simple handshake. No written contracts were necessary because a person’s word meant something.

Several years ago, when I was a pastor of a church in the Midwest, a representative from the city came by to see me. There was a small housing development that was going to be built next to the church property. The city wanted us to make an agreement with them to share an entrance for safety concerns. So, I met with the owner of that development, and we ended up coming to an agreement that satisfied both parties.

We shook hands on this agreement but needed our attorneys to come up with the appropriate paperwork. The attorney that I went to shared how much he was involved in his church and volunteer work in the area. This originally made me feel good about having him work with us. As we went through the proposal, he began to suggest to me that we could get more concessions. I responded by telling him that the other party and I had shook hands on our agreement. What he said next shocked me. He said, “in real estate agreements only what is written down matters, so let’s go ahead and demand these changes”. I responded by saying, “my word matters to me and to the faith I profess”.

The other person’s attorney suggested more concessions for him as well and at the end no agreement was made.

Proverbs 11:3 tells us that “a good man is guided by his honesty”, so in all areas of life, we need to choose to be a person of integrity. As believers in Jesus, this is one way to let our lights shine so that our heavenly Father will be honored.