Wednesday 14 November 2018

Honesty, uprightness and INTEGRITY

Not sure about you but I have this annoying habit of shooting off my mouth and in so doing putting a lot of people off-side.

I really don't mean to,  it just sort of slips out and once you have said it you can't take it back - I feel I should have a DELETE button inserted into my tongue which makes me backtrack and either say something nice and comforting or say nothing at all.

When I was thinking along these lines just after my latest outburst I thought of the word INTEGRITY and so I looked it up - so here it is:-
My dictionary tells me it is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles - it means honesty and uprightness - ethics and morals. Virtue and decency are in there somewhere as well.

Oh dear so that leaves me standing out in the field somewhere completely isolated.

God gave us the miraculous and incredible gift of speech - my heart aches for those who have no speech or who have lost their hearing and/or born without either speech or hearing.

Speech is miraculous in itself - James tells us that our speech can upset or encourage - it can drive others away from God or it can bring others into the marvelous saving grace and mercy of God.

Sitting in a group discussion I can so easily offend  and yet coming to know Christ as I have, God can also use my wayward tongue to help and encourage others,

I have been astounded lately apart from a few mess-ups just how God is changing my speech and bringing the "I" word into my very personality.

Integrity was  something I never thought of and in the rare occasions my mind may have wondered to the likeness of that word - I never stopped for even a second to consider the impact of what I was saying was having on the people around me.

Amazingly God is working a miracle in my life hence I want to share my miracle with you my readers.

I had never really developed  a listening manner - have you?

On the negative side I never considered asking people how they were or even offering encouragement in any way so when I finally brought my problem to God he opened miraculously a brand new ME whom I still having difficulty in believing I am the same person who has upset others.

God has changed me - I certainly couldn't have done it on my own - there is no way I could have changed so dramatically.

Gone (well almost) are the days when my conversation were centred on me - gone are those days when I was using my gift of speech in any way other than glorifying God.

So how are you shaping up on the INTEGRITY scale?

Are you withholding words that could encourage someone like I was?
Do you speak so often, so fast and so loudly that others do not have the opportunity to express themselves?
Have you perfected the art of verbal barbs or sarcasm that people could be injured by your words? (I'm a tiger for that one)

Maybe like me you should ask God to reveal to you your verbal strengths and weaknesses - believe me I have changed and as mentioned I couldn't do that on my own - not in a million years.

Our speech is very important to God - read James 3: 1-12 and you will see what I mean.

Anyway speech and guarding our tongues isn't the only personal reflection we have to take into consideration when we look at INTEGRITY

Integrity also means caring for your body! in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 Paul sets out very explicitly just how important it is to look after the body God gave you. I go jogging each morning and yes I have fallen over and realised just how much I have misused my body.

God has given us instructions that your body is actually His temple - so we should care for our bodies not misuse or neglect it.

Jogging and exercise is good and needful and keeps us in shape - Our bodies come in all shapes and sizes. Even so these 'shells' that house our inner being are a gift from God. We are to respect our bodies and use them for His glory.

Paul has a lot to say about sexual immorality as well. Immorality on that side of things can wreck your body and even your mind - Verse 19 says "that we are not our own" that simply means that Jesus' death on the cross bought us with a price unfathomable - His very life. We belong to Him and in that case we should honour Him with our bodies - not tear it apart  - for eg. overeating, lack of exercise and sexual immorality!

Integrity also means keeping our commitments - maybe commitments we have pledged to each other say in our wedding vows or commitments we made even before we came to Christ (as long as they didn't include immoral or illegal doings) and of course commitments to our work places etc. All of these commitments add up to INTEGRITY - a real gift from God. Believe me God can change you in ALL aspects of your life and that includes integrity.

Another aspect of INTEGRITY is self-control - let's not be like Samson in Judges 16 who let his self control fly out of Delilah's window. Self control is mentioned in the gifts of the spirit in Colossians as a real gift from God.

Self-control and Integrity go hand in hand as far as I can see - Self control is one of the main  pointers to INTEGRITY and one we should all aim for.

A great idea is keep a journal just for a short time to record just how many times your self-control has flown out of your window as it did for Samson out of Delilah's window. Note any lapses and any patterns that triggered them and also the victories, then prayerfully consider how you might reduce temptation and strengthen your inner resolve through the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Truth telling is another off-shoot of INTEGRITY - so often lying is far easier than telling the truth.
This is something that I have had to consider and where I don't like to admit that fact unfortunately it is true.

When situations tempt us to say what is less than true, before you open your mouth, grab hold of Jesus - speak to Him even if it has to be very quickly - ask HIm for courage and boldness to say the truth no matter what it may cost.  Jesus is our rock and fortress even if your world may turn upside down because of truth.

I could go on but I will finish with just one more important aspect of INTEGRITY and that is forgiveness.

Probably forgiveness is one the hardest parts of INTEGRITY. Especially in situations that are beyond your control. When you have been accused wrongly or abused either physically or sexually or both. Forgiveness in situations like that does not come easily.

BUT forgiveness can set you free. It's amazing that when you hold grudges, which is quite normal if you have been through extraordinary experiences, the longer we hold grudges the tighter the chains that bind us.

Forgiveness from the heart is often the key to loosen those chains that bind us and we end up being the very one set free and not so much the actual aggressor of the situation.

Not sure about you but forgiveness didn't come at all easily to me but when I finally gave it all over to God things in my life changed dramatically and He will definitely do the same for you. Forgiveness can take an age and it can be a long hard road until you finally are free but please persevere. I know I did and the release is amazing. It's like you become a different person.

Thinking of forgiveness I have included this song from Melissa Green called LONG ROAD TO FORGIVENESS.  It sort of sums up what I was saying about forgiveness and how often it takes courage and willingness on our part. It also may take a long and harrowing road to travel before you can honestly say in your heart of hearts I FORGIVE. The thing is God knows where we are and your willingness to forgive. Please keep working at it - don't give up because God is with you in this - He has been all along and He always will be.

Here is the link:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPmrFwZkTA0

As I said there are so many facets to true INTEGRITY and this blog only just scratches the surface. Please take the time to look into your own INTEGRITY and see where you may be failing. It won't be easy, but often the Christian walk isn't - it wasn't easy for Jesus and it won't be for you but the rewards are gargantuan not only at the promise of heaven but as you walk through the life God has gifted you here on earth.

God bless you this week as you walk in His footsteps, taking up you own personal cross whatever it may be and courageously take the steps to INTEGRITY and huge blessings as you do.










Friday 2 November 2018

Cash flow

Not sure about you but I tend to have a love hate relationship with all things associated with money!

As a Christian I struggle with the materialism and falling into the trap of greed when it comes to accumulating wealth, but then on the other hand I tend to think of the future and the security money gives you as you think of the future.

So you can see money can give you all sorts of headaches!

In today's world where we hear all sorts of amazing things preached from pulpits, it can be a head-spinning sort of a maze of differing thoughts and attitudes concerning the love and accumulation of money.

On one hand we have the prosperity gospel loud-hailing the message that money and lot's of it is some sort of barometer that defines our spirituality. They argue that God wants us to not only be spiritually rich but materially rich also. These people also argue that it is our lack of faith and even sin that stands in the way of amazing riches.

Then we have those who have taken a vow of poverty, giving away every cent they earn to give to the poor. ridding themselves of as much money as they can. Money to them is a contamination that comes between God and themselves which stifles any growth spiritually and the only way to grow in Jesus is to rid themselves of any wealth.

These are the extremes of where I see the world anyway but where does the truth lie? Somewhere in the middle maybe?

Both of these extremities may have some semblance of truth in them somewhere and that the dilemma that not only myself but a lot of Christians in the world face today.

I am sure my great God could shower His people with huge blessings of money and other material blessings if that was His will but often it is through struggles that we come to depend on Him to walk the miles with us, holding us close and showing us what indeed is his path for us in this crazy but beautiful world in which we all share.

What should be our attitude towards money? Should we despise it? Should we be thankful for it? Or should we have some sort of middle of the road experience in dealing with our finances?

So what is money anyway? In the old days bartering was the way to go and still is today in some cultures, so money is like bartering without the barter if you catch my drift. Money is our form of power in our world - we can do a whole host of things with money, from building a fence to an overseas trip to building a mansion - you name it money is tucked away in there somewhere.

One of the main problems in chatting about money is there is no definite answers as to how much is 'allowable' to be Christian. So really, if we are looking for a bottom line to tell us exactly how much we need to safely go through life in regards to money, we won't find it!

So in other words what can 'get away with' and still be righteous in the eyes of God?

The Pharisees loved to set down rules and obligations as to what people did and how they did it - what they spent and how much they themselves got in return. I reckon it doesn't work like that at all.

Love this verse in Matthew 5:20- Jesus Speaking -
"For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven"

We can make ourselves slaves to money where we begin and act and think of nothing else - we can get up every morning turn on the computer just to check how the stock market is going or how much we have saved on interest - or even what 'specials' are on the supermarket. We can even get to the stage where we are mindful of every dollar we spend. It's extraordinary really!

Some see money as the ONLY way to go - they argue that money and the accumulation of wealth will bring them happiness and well being - "If only I had some money - life would be so much happier - I would be able to do this or that etc etc"

I am reminded of ABBA's song MONEY MONEY MONEY - I must admit I found it a tad funny but unfortunately that is exactly how people see money as some sort of goal to aim for and "then I will be satisfied" sort of like a happy ending to life.
Here is the youtube link - it may bring you a laugh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxmCCsMoD0

It was ironic as I downloaded the youtube clip there was an add for Sports Bet - Another classic way some will look for loads of money to supposedly 'buy' them some sort of happiness - from what I can see the only way to be fully happy is in Christ and He alone.

Unfortunately so many people are looking for happiness in all the wrong places - money and heaps of it will never buy happiness.

So money IS NOT GOD - Following Jesus requires a heart change - it's about handing your life over to Him and allowing God's spirit to change you dramatically not only on your inside wanting to serve God and please him, but also seeing clearly just where you are as an individual in regards to your wealth.

So under no circumstance is there going to be some sort of sign-post in the Bible saying 'so far and no further' in respect to wealth, however we may need to change our attitudes in respect of how we deal with our wealth.

What I'm trying to say is that wealth and the accumulation of same is and can be entirely different to an individual depending on where that individual is with God and how God is working in that person's life.

The main thing I have gleaned from this is we must and never should put God over our wealth in fact we must never put God over anything! Wealth is Ok as long as we realise that God is the be all and end all of our life - our wealth should be like everything else that God has blessed us with a means to an end.

Greed like all sins in our lives that Jesus came to clean up, has no place once we have given it entirely to God.

Please don't let money and the love thereof dictate how you live your life and let's all of us decide right now to look at money as a blessing from God not as a steering wheel taking us from the main and real reason we have life and that is to worship, honour and love our Lord with all of our hearts and minds.

God bless you this week as you consider, like I have, where your priorities lie. Please take time this week to really consider others and yourself and just take your thoughts to God - Let Him lead you as He wills and what he would have you do.




Human love - super romantic and amazing!

Sometimes it is hard to give up on something you love - especially when that impinges on your family or your life in so many different ways ...