I spoke with a lady last night that I had not talked with for some time and while we were chatting catching up on things we began to discuss some concerns we have for this generation of saints. As we discussed many topics ranging from one doctrine to another we found something that concerned us even more so than doctrinal issues. Oh for sure we recognize there are some non-negotiable doctrines that define Judeo-Christianity from all false religions and cults. But there is even something larger, something bigger than that that underlies even those issues.
It is something called Integrity.
We have an epidemic of vast proportions sweeping across this nation it seems, and maybe even beyond, that goes to the very heart of the very core basics of what it means to be moral. What is the issue that reveals a lack of integrity?
We find so often people give lip service to this or that but never really follow through in action. They give the right words but never intend to truly act on the words or if they do intend to do so they tend to let it slip by or fall through the cracks and it never does really happen.
For example, let us take a simple common every day situation that occurs in the home life. It is when a child is being disobedient or when a child is doing something he or she should not be doing. The parent will often say: "now you stop that. If you do that again I will spank you." Five minutes later the child does it again. The parent then says, "I told you to stop that. If you do that again I am going to spank you." 3 minutes later the child does it again. The parent yells at the child now, "Little Johnny I said to stop that. Don't make me have to spank you. Stop it." This back and forth goes on for some time and the parent in this is teaching the child that words do not have real meaning to them. The parent is undermining the very essence, the very core, the very fundamental principle to all of life, honest communication and integrity of heart and mind and action. The child if placed in that environment will grow up with the guidance that it is ok to say one thing in word but that words really have no true meaning behind them.
If that is how the child views life then even the Word of God is meaningless to the child too. The child very well could reasonable by default think like this: "Oh the Father God says if I do not believe in Christ I will go to hell, hummmm....well maybe not exactly because dad and mom said if I did not do something I would be punished but that was really just words with no real action behind it. I'm sure God is merciful like my parents were."
Integrity to stay true to our word is critical and fundamental to everything else. James said there are those who are "double-minded," they are people "who are unstable in all their ways" (James 1:9).
Does that describe you at times? As I was talking last night with my friend I even saw ways in myself where that wretched double-mindedness shows up. I've said before to people, "hey let's catch up and go eat" but in reality it is just a social slogan instead of having real intent to it. At other times I have said other things that were mere words that truly lacked substance and real intent behind them. Or even when I did have good intentions behind it for some reason I did not have the courage or self-discipline to really follow through on what I said.
I find that this is becoming more and more of an issue in all circles of life. Families are likely to be in extreme danger whenever this evil festers and grows in them. A business will likely collapse and go under when the employees and/or supervisors begin to say one thing but not truly deliver on what they say. If employees say they will provide such and such service but then do not deliver the business cannot survive. If the bosses say that abc will be done but it never really is done the employees see it as hypocrisy, lose respect for the leaders, and chaos begins to weave its way into the organization as it crumbles from distrust that is bred in the organization.
Integrity is vital, fundamental, essential, foundational, and critical to all else we say and do. Without this one small character trait the entire enterprise of character like Christ Jesus is lost and undermined.
Examine your life: do you have a tendency to say the right words for the issue at hand but then fail to back up those words? As a parent do you show integrity to your children and other family members by carrying out what you say with action and real deeds to your words? Do you discipline when you say you are going to discipline? Do you act on your words or are they mere words without substance behind them?
Men who are heads of families: do you use words but never really follow through on them? Do you honor your words with actions behind them? When you say you are going to do something do you do it? Or are you wishy-washy? Do you tell your family to do or not do something and then when it is or is not done as you said it needs to be done do you just let it be? If so you are being double--minded and cowardly too. Do you see sin in the lives of your family and go talk about it with other men, pray about it, and ask for ideas on what should be done to then actually receive good ideas that are true to the Word but then when it comes implementation of those ideas you fail to act? Do you continue to say the right holy words that are more jargon than reality to you and your ways? If so you are suffering from the double-minded sin that James spoke about through the inspiration of God through him.
Women who are under heads: do you give lip service to the man over you? Do you agree with him in his presence but then speak and do the opposite? Do you failk to follow through with what you say you are going to do? If so you too are double-minded.
Ministry leaders: do you say nice things to appease and impress people but then have no true intention of carrying out those words? Do you continually preach, teach, and tell people what is the wrong way or the right way but fail to actually put action behind your words to set things in order when it is within your power to do so? Do you say things like what one minister from the pulpit did: "We are not going to be a church that is tied down by debt and take our focus off of reaching pour community for Christ," and then in the leadership board meeting on week later he votes to allow the budge to be used to purchase a new 10 million dollar building for a coffee house that the church has to finance for 30 years? Do you preach, teach, and speak against some sin that you know is going on around you but fail to actually address the matter one on one with those who claim to be under your leadership? These are double-minded traits coming through and surfacing.
Saints in General: Do you hear a teaching, a message from the Word, and you recognize it to be true and you repent but then later go back and fail to put in place the actions that meet up with the repentance. If so you are struggling with the double-minded aspect to which the Lord spoke about. It could even be something as simple as an exercise program you know you need to be on. Maybe you start off saying each new year that you are going to get some cardiovascular exercise in each week and you begin but then later fall off of the routine and stop all together. This could very well be an integrity issue. Backing up our words and plans with real substantive action is what integrity means.
If we are honest all of us will see we do this from time to time. But as the good tool of philosophy tells us, just because something "is" does not mean that what "is" is the "ought." The law of Christ shows us both what is our tendency as well as what ought to be.
This issue of integrity is so important we cannot ignore it. It is one reason why we have so much garbage in the public sector today is often because of the garbage we model and allow to be in our own personal lives and in our spheres of responsibility such as with our family be it physical or even spiritual.
Look at what the Bible says about it:
The righteous who walks in his integrity-- blessed are his children after him! Proverbs 20:7
Whoever walks in integrity will be delivered, but he who is crooked in his ways will suddenly fall. Pro. 28:18
I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; Psalms 101:2
Examine your words. Be scientific about if you really want to know. Keep track of what you say and see how often you live up to what you say. If you want to put it in writing so your words are fixed and you can examine it. That is why people use written contracts in the business world. It helps to hold people to be men and women of integrity. Some people refuse to write anything or put anything in writing because they are indeed double-minded and they know it so they refuse to write anything down because it then holds them to their own words and they want to be slippery and weasel their way out of it. But a honest person who has integrity realizes the seriousness of being true to his or her words as life, even possibly eternal life, hinges in the balance by it.
It is something called Integrity.
We have an epidemic of vast proportions sweeping across this nation it seems, and maybe even beyond, that goes to the very heart of the very core basics of what it means to be moral. What is the issue that reveals a lack of integrity?
We find so often people give lip service to this or that but never really follow through in action. They give the right words but never intend to truly act on the words or if they do intend to do so they tend to let it slip by or fall through the cracks and it never does really happen.
For example, let us take a simple common every day situation that occurs in the home life. It is when a child is being disobedient or when a child is doing something he or she should not be doing. The parent will often say: "now you stop that. If you do that again I will spank you." Five minutes later the child does it again. The parent then says, "I told you to stop that. If you do that again I am going to spank you." 3 minutes later the child does it again. The parent yells at the child now, "Little Johnny I said to stop that. Don't make me have to spank you. Stop it." This back and forth goes on for some time and the parent in this is teaching the child that words do not have real meaning to them. The parent is undermining the very essence, the very core, the very fundamental principle to all of life, honest communication and integrity of heart and mind and action. The child if placed in that environment will grow up with the guidance that it is ok to say one thing in word but that words really have no true meaning behind them.
If that is how the child views life then even the Word of God is meaningless to the child too. The child very well could reasonable by default think like this: "Oh the Father God says if I do not believe in Christ I will go to hell, hummmm....well maybe not exactly because dad and mom said if I did not do something I would be punished but that was really just words with no real action behind it. I'm sure God is merciful like my parents were."
Integrity to stay true to our word is critical and fundamental to everything else. James said there are those who are "double-minded," they are people "who are unstable in all their ways" (James 1:9).
Does that describe you at times? As I was talking last night with my friend I even saw ways in myself where that wretched double-mindedness shows up. I've said before to people, "hey let's catch up and go eat" but in reality it is just a social slogan instead of having real intent to it. At other times I have said other things that were mere words that truly lacked substance and real intent behind them. Or even when I did have good intentions behind it for some reason I did not have the courage or self-discipline to really follow through on what I said.
I find that this is becoming more and more of an issue in all circles of life. Families are likely to be in extreme danger whenever this evil festers and grows in them. A business will likely collapse and go under when the employees and/or supervisors begin to say one thing but not truly deliver on what they say. If employees say they will provide such and such service but then do not deliver the business cannot survive. If the bosses say that abc will be done but it never really is done the employees see it as hypocrisy, lose respect for the leaders, and chaos begins to weave its way into the organization as it crumbles from distrust that is bred in the organization.
Integrity is vital, fundamental, essential, foundational, and critical to all else we say and do. Without this one small character trait the entire enterprise of character like Christ Jesus is lost and undermined.
Examine your life: do you have a tendency to say the right words for the issue at hand but then fail to back up those words? As a parent do you show integrity to your children and other family members by carrying out what you say with action and real deeds to your words? Do you discipline when you say you are going to discipline? Do you act on your words or are they mere words without substance behind them?
Men who are heads of families: do you use words but never really follow through on them? Do you honor your words with actions behind them? When you say you are going to do something do you do it? Or are you wishy-washy? Do you tell your family to do or not do something and then when it is or is not done as you said it needs to be done do you just let it be? If so you are being double--minded and cowardly too. Do you see sin in the lives of your family and go talk about it with other men, pray about it, and ask for ideas on what should be done to then actually receive good ideas that are true to the Word but then when it comes implementation of those ideas you fail to act? Do you continue to say the right holy words that are more jargon than reality to you and your ways? If so you are suffering from the double-minded sin that James spoke about through the inspiration of God through him.
Women who are under heads: do you give lip service to the man over you? Do you agree with him in his presence but then speak and do the opposite? Do you failk to follow through with what you say you are going to do? If so you too are double-minded.
Ministry leaders: do you say nice things to appease and impress people but then have no true intention of carrying out those words? Do you continually preach, teach, and tell people what is the wrong way or the right way but fail to actually put action behind your words to set things in order when it is within your power to do so? Do you say things like what one minister from the pulpit did: "We are not going to be a church that is tied down by debt and take our focus off of reaching pour community for Christ," and then in the leadership board meeting on week later he votes to allow the budge to be used to purchase a new 10 million dollar building for a coffee house that the church has to finance for 30 years? Do you preach, teach, and speak against some sin that you know is going on around you but fail to actually address the matter one on one with those who claim to be under your leadership? These are double-minded traits coming through and surfacing.
Saints in General: Do you hear a teaching, a message from the Word, and you recognize it to be true and you repent but then later go back and fail to put in place the actions that meet up with the repentance. If so you are struggling with the double-minded aspect to which the Lord spoke about. It could even be something as simple as an exercise program you know you need to be on. Maybe you start off saying each new year that you are going to get some cardiovascular exercise in each week and you begin but then later fall off of the routine and stop all together. This could very well be an integrity issue. Backing up our words and plans with real substantive action is what integrity means.
If we are honest all of us will see we do this from time to time. But as the good tool of philosophy tells us, just because something "is" does not mean that what "is" is the "ought." The law of Christ shows us both what is our tendency as well as what ought to be.
This issue of integrity is so important we cannot ignore it. It is one reason why we have so much garbage in the public sector today is often because of the garbage we model and allow to be in our own personal lives and in our spheres of responsibility such as with our family be it physical or even spiritual.
Look at what the Bible says about it:
The righteous who walks in his integrity-- blessed are his children after him! Proverbs 20:7
Whoever walks in integrity will be delivered, but he who is crooked in his ways will suddenly fall. Pro. 28:18
I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; Psalms 101:2
Examine your words. Be scientific about if you really want to know. Keep track of what you say and see how often you live up to what you say. If you want to put it in writing so your words are fixed and you can examine it. That is why people use written contracts in the business world. It helps to hold people to be men and women of integrity. Some people refuse to write anything or put anything in writing because they are indeed double-minded and they know it so they refuse to write anything down because it then holds them to their own words and they want to be slippery and weasel their way out of it. But a honest person who has integrity realizes the seriousness of being true to his or her words as life, even possibly eternal life, hinges in the balance by it.
