by David Brenneman
"The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them." Proverbs 11:3.
Some have said that integrity is what defines a person when nobody is looking.
This morning I was reading that chapter in Proverbs and read that passage with that definition inserted. "What a person does when nobody is looking will guide them, but those who think they are getting away with things will be destroyed by their actions."
Is your life really by way of your own interpretation, understanding, estimation?
What is it that God has said that He's looking for? People after God's own heart. His Disciples were had the seeds planted while Jesus yet walked among them to grow into the very foundation of the Church in Christ Jesus. The very seeds that become the people after God's own heart.
What you think you do in secret is anything but done in secret.
What you choose to do is not by chance, nor is it fully out of a person's control. At least not for the masses. There are those with physical issues that cause behaviors to be seen that aren't spiritual in nature. But for the rest of us...what we do Spiritually has a direct relationship with our physical world.
What does the Spirit say through Paul in the book of Colossians?
"Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve." Colossians 3:23-24.
Your work is not truly separated by leisure and actual work. It's whatever you put your hands to doing. That verse in its opening part defines that.
What are you indulging in that you know in your heart of hearts God wouldn't approve of?
In the book of 1 Samuel, on several occasions, the soon to be King David was being pursued by King Saul. On all of those occasions temptation was beating on the door of his heart to kill King Saul when the opportunity was ripe. His integrity wouldn't let him. He knew that it wouldn't be right to be placing himself in God's sandals. King David had to wait years for the fulfillment of the Word of God concerning him being King.
We have passed what it used to be described of a past generation as being a microwave society. Instantaneous is what this present culture wants of themselves and others. We don't wait like we used to in order to find out something we jump on a phone and try to look it up.
Integrity is indeed what you are doing when nobody is looking. Our impatience is fertile ground for a loss of integrity. In a moment its destroyed. For many it takes a lifetime to recover from one instance of stupidity.
I have no need for anyone to point out my various times of my being stupid. In thinking that since nobody of significance saw that I am safe. By no means do I believe that a supposed secret is safe in a person's life unless they are taken from this world by God and even then what a person does follows after them.
King David's response to his companion's was that he could not reach out against the Lord's Anointed without serious repercussions. That God would indeed know even if nobody saw.
You, my Dear Reader, are always in a position of having the right thing to do before you. God isn't going to turn away at any moment just because you want Him to. Indeed the Scriptures say that He who knows the right thing to do and does not do it sins.
What we do when people aren't looking matters.
You have to decide how you are going to be. There's the integrity of your heart at stake. We who are in Christ Jesus will see just what impact that thought had on us when all our deeds done in life are tried by fire.
Will all that we did in the life we were given go up in smoke or will there be a crown of righteousness to give back to Jesus.
That should weigh heavily on your decision making you do in secret or in the open.
"Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep." Psalms 121:4.
"For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” 2 Chronicles 16:9a.
"Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them." Psalms 139:7-16.
You see, there is always one who sees all that you and I do. Everywhere we go from our bed to the farthest reaches of the Heavens.
Pray for your integrity. We all need to pray for that because it is a foundation stone for what we do in our lives for Christ.
All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.
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