ONGOING INTEGRITY

Have you ever noticed that some people expect to be able to live according to a different set of rules? One of the weak witnesses of the church today is this concept of believers seeing other believers living one way and worshiping another. It simply comes down to a question of integrity. It is a question you must grasp—that all the rules that apply to everyone else apply to you as well.

God saved you even though you weren’t perfect. God will use you even though you aren’t perfect. However, you must understand that even when God chooses you and uses you, that does not give you a personal exemption from holiness. The rules still apply to you. If you don’t get it the gap between the way things are and the way things ought to be will continue to get wider.

What would it take for you to compromise your integrity? If you have a price, someone will pay it. The devil, your boss, your so-called friends, maybe even your family. If your integrity is for sale, someone will be willing to buy it. What will it take? Money? Sex? A promotion? Acceptance? Approval? Whatever your price is, someone will pay it. If you want to narrow the gap between the way things are and the way things ought to be, you must become a person who cannot be bought. There will always be many reasons why you can compromise your integrity; but there will never be a good reason.

When you sell, when you give up, when you give in you will somehow manage to make everything look great on the outside, but behind the curtain there’s a different story. It’s like using table manners out in public but never at home. You are keeping up outward appearances of decorum but at home where you are real there is no sign of propriety. Integrity requires that your private life be consistent with your public life — that you act the same whether people are watching or not. As the great theologian Oprah Winfrey once said, "Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not."

If you feel that you have compromised your integrity, if the way it is in your life isn't the way it ought to be, it doesn't mean that you have become worthless or useless. It means you need to take the necessary steps to make things right: stop making excuses, play by the rules, and get things in order. You can't live on yesterday's integrity. Neither should you let yesterday's mistakes hold you back. Integrity is now. It is an ongoing process and you have to live it every single day of your life. “I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there.” (1 Chronicles 29:17)

Maintaining your integrity, or regaining your integrity, is a matter of playing by the rules, getting rid of your excuses, and doing what it takes to straighten things out. Doing this will enable you to narrow the gap between the way things are and the way things ought to be.

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