Integrity is hard

As I get older and I learn more about both God and life, I am realizing that this life is hard. It is filled with opportunities to destroy yourself.

Integrity- N.  The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

That is what good ole Dr. Webster has to say about what integrity is. He's right. The quality of being honest is part of integrity, a large part even. He presents a second definition, though, and that's the one I want to talk about.

Integrity- N. The state of being whole and undivided

Interesting Webby. Let's dissect that a little, shall we?

Point 1- Morals. Having integrity means that when no one is watching, when no one will ever know, you follow the rules. You do what is right. No matter the benefit to you or the lack of consequences. There are much fewer gray areas in God's mind than there are in the world's. Keep that in mind.

Point 2- Being what you say you are. Being vs. Saying. Now, when I say "saying," I mean proclaiming or identifying with. To have integrity requires the way we think and act to line up with what we claim. As humans we claim many things: and some things are much easier to "be." For example, I claim to be human, pretty easy to make that true. I claim to be a son, pretty easy to make that true. Let's look at some harder ones though. We claim to be dependable, but we hoard money like we'll never see another cent. We claim to be honest, but we lie every time someone asks us how we are.

Now let's take this practical knowledge, beneficial to everyone, and apply it to Christianity.

Point 1- Jesus had perfect morals. However, his morals were not defined by the cultures. If the culture said that abortion and gay marriage are okay, one can bet that Jesus said they weren't. Christian morals should be modeled directly after Jesus'. Stand for what he stood for, and denounce what he denounced. WARNING: THIS WILL CAUSE YOU TO BE COUNTER CULTURAL. People will NOT like you. But the God of the universe will help you.

Point 2- If you claim to be a "Christian," then you claim to be Christ. The word literally means "Christ one." Now, if you CLAIM that, you should BE that. Having integrity among Christianity requires living EVERY facet of your life the way Christ would live if he was you. If you are a "Christ One" then all of you is Christ's. That word does NOT mean "Half Christ's," because he doesn't want that. He wants all. To be what you say you are is not HUMANLY possible. We know that. That is why people don't even try, and to this I say, START. You will be amazed to find that you will begin to succeed because the God of the universe wants you to. God, who created you, draws you closer to Him through making you more like Christ.

It sounds legalistic I know. Follow all the rules and God will bless you. Sure. Well, if we measure this in a legalistic way, ALL of us are completely hopeless. God's rules and laws do not exist only to show us how to live and keep us from trouble, they exist to point out how imperfect we are. Without the law, we would not know what is right or wrong, so we would not be aware how sinful and wrong we are! The law of God shows us that we desperately NEED JESUS.

The good news: Christ came, lived out the law, died, and ROSE AGAIN. Through this act, God's wrath was satisfied. Those who believe are made perfect through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Not only are our sins forgiven, but when God looks at us, He sees Christ. Perfection. Glory.

I say that to say this: when it seems like you are going through a season lacking integrity, falling away from the presence of God, you should not give up. Christ paid for those sins ahead of time. Brokenness over sin is beautiful. Being upset about sinning against the God of the universe is expected, however dwelling on a sin thinking that God doesn't want you or that He can no longer use you is heresy. It is putting God in a box.

To sum this last part up: Christ is our integrity!

Desiring deeper integrity,
Jeremy