Brothers and sisters in Christ, I implore you be men and women of honesty and integrity. In a world where good is considered evil and evil good, the lines between right and wrong can be easily blurred. We can justify sin in many ways and by doing so; we can lose our path very quickly. The Bible calls us to be the salt of the earth and we are to be followers of Christ in private and in public. I am sure we all have sin in our lives that we would like to keep hidden, actions that we can justify in the heat of the moment, but afterwards be eaten up with guilt and despair. We often find ourselves in a circle of sin, asking for forgiveness, doing the same sin, asking for forgiveness and around and around we go! At some point we have to break that circle and be strict followers of Jesus. We must cling to what is good and hate what is evil and abstain from all appearances of evil. There is no sin that is ever justified, there is only wrong and right, what adheres to the Bible and what does not. Jesus is the perfect example of a man of integrity. After He was baptized, He went into the wilderness to fast for forty days and nights, during which time Satan came to Him at His weakest to try to break His integrity and corrupt Him. Jesus was wholly man and wholly God at the same time, and He tempted in every way we are, yet he never sinned (Hebrews 4:15); that is the definition of integrity. He is the only one who was ever without blemish, perfect, completely truthful, and always showing a pattern of good works. As sinful human beings, our integrity is flawed, but Jesus’ integrity is perfect. When we are “in Christ,” we partake of His divine nature, having been given new natures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and that new nature is one of integrity because it is His nature. The Bible also describes integrity as the truth. What is the truth? Jesus is the only real truth and the only way to attain eternal life. Nobody comes to the Father unless he goes through Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). Many times, Jesus prefaced His words by saying, “Truly, I say to you,” which, in essence, means “I tell you the truth.” Jesus never lied, and His actions defined integrity. Once we come to Christ in faith and repentance, He gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit who assists us in developing our incorruptible integrity. It is impossible to have real integrity without Jesus as our Lord and Savior. May the Lord give us strong integrity that becomes incorruptible through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 09:18:58 +0000
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