Shade Tree Wisdom 10/22/08

Cool, brisk, sprightly, are words to describe this fresh morning. It’s delightful to be able to bid farewell to the hot, humid months. Praise God for His faithfulness in the changing seasons.

Integrity, the dictionary defines at as a “firm adherence to a code of artistic or moral values”. It means an honesty in which there is nothing false. What you see on the outside runs all he way through. A person with integrity has a standard that comes from God.

Of course, the Bible is filled with such. The first that comes to mind is Joseph. The story is in Genesis. He was sold by his brothers, ends up in Potiphar’s service, and is the steward of all this man owns. This man’s wife propositions Joseph, young, virile, in his young manhood. The temptation must have been enormous, the pressure for a romantic fling nearly overwhelming. Joseph refuses. He says this – listen to how its done – “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God” 39,9. He spent some years in an Egyptian dungeon as a result. That’s integrity.

Then Daniel. A war prisoner dragged into a foreign land, ending as a trusted servant to the king. The king, Darius, trust him so much “he planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom” (Dan. 6,3). Jealous, his enemies won’t have it, they try to drag him down by finding chinks in his armor, weak spots in his life, little ‘mistakes’ they can point out to the king. Nothing. “But they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him.” Dan 6.4. That’s integrity.

Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5, 1 – 11) did not have it. They sold a piece of property and brought part of the price to the Church, claiming it was what the property sold for. They wanted to be known as a generous couple, but lacked integrity. They paid a terrible price – death.

Integrity means not having to look over your shoulder. And notice how both for Joseph and for Daniel, they struggled alone. No wise counselor to turn to, nobody to give them calm assurance, they struggled alone, with the Holy Spirit as their counselor.

At the last supper Jesus singled Peter out and warned, “Simon, Simon Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not” Luke 22,31.

The temptations that come to all Christians always look alluring, yet they offer us a slippery slope, and once we fall the first time, the next comes easier. In a mountain climbing lesson the experienced guides teach their students, when they are on a slope and lose their footing, to use their ice picks and quickly sink it into the snow, meanwhile kicking as hard as they can to gain a hold. For, they warn, “Once you start to slide, it’s almost impossible to stop unless you do it quickly”.

Integrity, so often lacking. Just a glance at the news shows a world filled with compromise, scandal, dark secrets. Integrity means keeping the promises we make, either it is at the marriage altar, the confirmation service, the membership commitment.

It’s what we look for in these elections also. Let us pray for the officials who are elected, and let us continue to pray for the country, and for the Church in this world standing as a beacon of Saving Light in Jesus.

GPD 10/22/08