integrity

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Good day! Get ready to be challenged about your integrity.




But before that, some minor housekeeping is in order. Pleasing Sacrifice will undergo a small stylistic change from here on in, moving from longer monthly articles to shorter weekly ones. On Wednesdays. I'm hoping this will make the readings more digestable for you and more fulfilling for yours truly. I'm also going to try to incorporate more of my own layman's articles as opposed to focussing mainly on sermon summaries. And who doesn't need more exciting Wednesdays?


I was struck by the simple power of a verse from Psalms I read the other day.


Psalm 101:2
I will be careful to lead a blameless life — when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart.


The verse (indeed, the whole Psalm), deals with the idea of integrity. We as Christians are called to live upright lives, loving the that which is virtuous, noble and right, and avoiding that which is wicked, immoral and wrong. If you look at the first half of that verse, the idea it seems to encapsulate is that of living obediently out of fear of the Second Coming. That is, many Christians (myself countless times) would confess that part of their motivation for living righteously is fear-driven, not knowing when we might be snapped up by an unanticipated Rapture (or whichever apocalyptic scenario you ascribe to).


But we know something about the character of God. He works through love; in everything he does, love is his trademark currency. We would be misunderstanding the God we serve to let fear be the driving force for our actions. Growing in God is a process of continual sanctification, where we gradually become more and more like Jesus, trying to emulate Him in every way possible. Fear, worry and guilt should not weigh into our motivations for living with integrity - we should do it just because we know it pleases God. (1 Chronicles 29:17 - I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity).


It was the second part of that verse from Psalms that really resonated with me. "I will walk in my house with blameless heart". Think about your bedroom. That is your domain, your ultimate comfort zone. In your bedroom you are free to be who you want, you have virtually no constraints holding you back (barring your own inhibitions). You could live a perfectly holy-seeming life in church and on the street and then come home and leave it all at the door. 'Go crazy!', society tells you, 'the law can't restrict what you do in the privacy of your own home.'


But we hail from a different land. The King of our land is sovereign over all areas of our life. Now while you might not be so extreme as to undergo a Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde style transformation once there's no-one watching, I want you to ask yourself - are there areas of your life that you let slip when you're not being watched?


I love the idea of "walking in my house with blameless heart". Just imagine it. Walking through your house, going from room to room, completely confident that the person you are here is the person you are out there. That the integrity-driven life you showcase outdoors is the same integrity-driven life you hold firm to indoors. In short, that you have integrity everywhere, all the time, and in every aspect of your life.


So I wonder. Is there an area you need to deal with? Are you narky to your Mum, do you limit your acts of generousity strictly to church friends on Sundays? Pray about it - God will illuminate everything.


I pray that you'll lead a life of total integrity. Walk through that house with a blameless heart.


Love Dan.