Giving Honest Counsel When It Is Unpopular [Banker #142]
Listen to today's devotional:
Scripture
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” — Proverbs 27:6.
Devotional
Good counsel is not always comfortable counsel.
Clients may sometimes want confirmation rather than wisdom. Leaders may prefer agreement rather than challenge. Coworkers may hope you will support a decision you believe is unwise.
Speaking honestly in those moments requires courage.
Your responsibility as a Christian banker is not to tell people whatever keeps them happy. It is to communicate truth with wisdom, humility, and appropriate respect.
That may mean telling a borrower that additional debt could create unnecessary risk. It may mean questioning assumptions in a business plan. It may mean raising concerns about a strategy others enthusiastically support.
Honest counsel is not harshness. Your goal is not to prove your intelligence or embarrass someone. The goal is to serve them through truth.
People may not always appreciate honest counsel immediately. But over time, they learn the difference between advisors who simply agree and those who genuinely care about their well-being.
Sometimes the most valuable service you provide is the courage to say what someone needs to hear rather than what they want to hear.
Reflection Questions
• Do I ever avoid necessary truth because I fear someone's reaction?
• How can I communicate difficult counsel with both courage and compassion?
• Is there a conversation I know I need to have?
Action Step
Prepare for one necessary conversation by identifying both the truth that needs to be communicated and the most gracious way to communicate it.
Prayer
Father, give me courage to speak truth and wisdom to speak it with grace. Help my counsel serve others rather than simply protect my own comfort. Amen.
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This devotional is designed to encourage you as you live out your faith in the workplace. It works best when paired with regular time in Scripture, prayer, and worship—the rhythms through which we grow to know Christ more deeply and become more like Him.
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