Integrity 6.30 Sun 29 Feb 2004
Integrity. Exactly what is
integrity?
I noticed in the home
group notes, we used, with the series on the ten commandments, that it used the
word “integrity” in three of the commandments.
There are three sets of
relationships we need to be honest in -
You need to be truthful with God because there is
nothing we do or think that God doesn’t see.
Many people haven’t really believed that, or we would be
more careful of what we do. We need to live our lives knowing God is watching
everything we say and do.
It is not what
you do but why you do it that
matters – your motives.
You may start out in your
Christian life going to church as an insurance against going to hell. But God
wants a relationship with you so your motive must change to a mutual desire for
a relationship.
You may do “a good work”
and make yourself feel good about yourself, but if your motive was not to ‘glorify
God’, your motive was wrong.
You must have integrity in prayer.
Do you ever pray prayers
about the state of the county or town, and say, “God give us a better
government”? Yet you neither vote, or right letters of compliment or complaint
to those in authority. No way! would you stand for election.
Someone once in this
church complained to me, “’they’
should do something about it.” Then they
carried on talking about something else. They thought something should be done
in church, but hadn’t given enough thought, or paused for breath, to even
realise that “they” were include in the “they”
who should do something.
Be careful for what you
pray for because God may say “Good idea. You do it!”
If you have had an
argument with someone or don’t like them for some reason; ‘yes’, you should
pray for them, but admit to God that you don’t like them. Tell God they
irritate you.
Be honest. He knows
anyway. Then ask for his help in changing your attitude.
The same goes for minor
irritations you have with the habits of spouse and other family members. Be
honest with God and ask for his help in changing the way it makes you feel.
If you feel far from God
and don’t feel like praying, tell him, “Lord I don’t feel like praying, help me
with these feelings.”
You must have integrity in thought.
You need
to be truthful with yourself.
We deceive ourselves. Sometimes we deceive
ourselves that we are better than we are, or we are in the right and someone else
totally in the wrong.
But also sometimes we lack confidence in ourselves
or see ourselves as worthless. I can’t do it. I couldn’t possibly do it. I am
no good at it. I am not good enough.
Pray “Lord show me the truth about me”. When God
answers you might not always like it. On the other hand, he may point out, that
through Christ, you are righteous. You are Holy.
Don’t tell yourself you
are not at fault when deep down you really know you are.
Do you remember the story
of King David and Bathsheba?
One spring, when as a king
he should have gone to war with his troops, he had taken a leisurely stroll on
the palace roof after an afternoon nap. He looked over the city and saw
beautiful Bathsheba taking a bath.
He then sent for her. Got
her pregnant. Then arranged for her husband to be killed so he could marry her.
Probably God tried to tell
him in various ways over the next year that he had sinned but David obviously
was lying to himself. He didn’t see his sin.
God eventually had to send
Nathan the prophet to point out David’s sin. Nathan did this by getting David
to see the sin for himself through a parable and not by just accusing him.
King David had being lying
to himself about his sin with Bathsheba for over a year.
Some people aren’t honest
with themselves about their own needs. For example workaholics won’t rest. Many
of us should look after our bodies more by having more exercise or loosing
weight, but tell ourselves it doesn’t really matter.
You should
show integrity at all times.
A speaker said, it was suggested to one Christian,
that they went to a wholesales warehouse and told the staff that they had left
their card at home. It worked, and they got in, and bought some goods really
cheaply. She got what she wanted but what would God think of the lie.
How many Christians lie about getting to work late
(eg it was the traffic) when really they left to late.
Some people park in a handicapped parking spaces at
supermarkets and other places because they are in a hurry and EVERYBODY ELSE
DOES IT.
‘There are too many handicapped parking spaces’
anyway they reason.
Have you noticed this at Burntwood Recreation
Centre. The disabled and parent spaces are always full. Apart from the fact
that I doubt if that many disabled people, or people with children are in the
centre, I wonder why visitors using these spaces don’t get a tiny bit more
exercise by walking a few yards. After all why have they gone there? . . .
Luke
12.2-3 The time is coming when everything will be revealed; all that
is secret will be made public. Whatever
you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have
whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to
hear!
Have you ever left home in
a bad temper with someone, and then met someone else and smiled sweetly. Or
maybe just answered a knock on the door looking angelic?
Next time you are angry,
remember God is watching.
If you lead a mediocre,
compromising life style behind closed doors then it will affect your
relationship with God.
Paul says (2 Corinthians 1:17-18 NLT) :-
Am I like
people of the world who say “yes” when they really mean “no”?
As surely as
God is true, I am not that sort of person. My “yes” means “yes”.
Paul says if I say “yes” I mean “yes” and if I say
“no” I mean “no”. Make sure when you say “yes” to doing something you really
mean it. Because some times people say, “yes” to going to places or doing
something when they have absolutely no intention.
It has been suggested that
in
I was surprised how high
it was. Then thought, “That’s
It seems common practice
in this part of the county to ask people how they are meaning “Hello”. People
don’t even say, “Hello, how are you?” sometimes. They say, “Y’ Al’ right?” You
get a quick glance off the person and by the time you have made the local
response “right” they have walked right past you. You could have grown an extra
arm and they wouldn’t have noticed.
So don’t ask some one how
they are unless you are prepared for at least a couple of sentences in reply.
Better to say just, “Hello” and give them a genuine excuse if they look as if
they want to stop and chat.
And when you answer the question, “How are you?”
yourself, why answer “Very well thank you.” And stick to it when challenged
with, “Are you sure?” When the truth is something is bothering you, and you
will go home saying to yourself, “no one cares”. “I have got to sort this out
on my own”.
Often it is best to explain problems to someone
else, because the very act of explaining, gives you a clearer idea of your own problem.
When working as a computer systems developer, as it
is now called, I and my colleagues sometimes found we just couldn’t see the answers
to problems we had, with the individual parts of systems, we were working on.
So we asked one another for help. This meant explaining in great detail to the
listener, what you were trying to accomplish. If they didn’t understand they
would ask questions. Invariably, when I
asked for help, having thought, and puzzled, over the problem for days, I, then saw the solution. One colleague
said, all I really needed was a cardboard cut out of himself.
Bottling things up inside you will just make you
irritable. So choose someone to share your problem with.
So if you meet someone who says “How are you”. Obviously,
you don’t want to make feel depressed, or avoid you in future but be truthful.
“Overall great, but I am having a bit of a problem with “XXX” at the moment”.
Maybe honestly add, “I’d rather not discuss it right now”.
We must be careful we are not getting onto the top
of the slide of telling lies. Because once on the top, you will start to go
down. Satan wants to ruin your life. It starts with little lies, little
compromises. Either you have integrity
or you haven’t.
Remember if you are used
to telling small lies it is easier to tell larger ones.
Instead, we will hold to
the truth in love, becoming more and
more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. (Ephesians 4:15 NLT)
We need to find a way of
answering such questions without lying and yet tenderly, gentle, without
hurting the other person.
Neither is speaking the
truth in love is a licence to say anything, and give your opinion on anything.
No one here would walk up to a really ugly person and say, “I just want to tell
you are the ugliest person I have ever seen, but welcome to
I hope!!
Similarly, even if God has
told you that someone has committed a particular sin, neither would you walk up
to a person and accuse them of it.
Remember.
Colossians 3:14 And the most important piece of
clothing you must wear, is love.
Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony.
Love, is the most
important piece of clothing, above integrity. So if God doesn’t give you a way
of saying it with love. Don’t say it.
Integrity.
Show it to God.
Show it to others.
And ask God to show you
the truth or otherwise, of your own thoughts, words and actions.