Wednesday, December 9, 2015

INTEGRITY

Thanks for your patience while I've been in this recent dry blog season.  My computer has been acting up and I couldn't even turn it on for several days.

Alas.

But ... I'm back.

I don't know if you remember the name Rachel Dolezal.  She was President of the Spokane Washington chapter of the NAACP for nine years.  Last year she resigned when it was discovered she had lied about her racial identity.  She had said she was black when she wasn't.  To rebut that controversy, she insisted she was trans-racial.  While she wasn't technically a black person, she said she identified as a black person.  In fact, she had managed to convince everyone for years that she was black.

A family in Georgia found themselves in jail after having several fundraisers for their daughter, who they said was terminally ill.  They raised tens of thousands of dollars on her behalf.  It was later discovered the little girl wasn't ill.

I'm in 9th grade.  I wanted to beat my arch nemesis in a scholastic achievement.  When he asked me what place I got, instead of admitting I came in underneath him, I lied and said I had outscored him.

Enron, Bernie Madoff, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae -- all these people and companies were presenting, 'This is what I am.'  But underneath they were something different.

So let's ask that question of ourselves.  Have we ever presented ourselves one way but underneath we were someone different?

Solomon wrote:  'The one who lives with integrity lives securely.'  (Proverbs 10:9)

Their lives are open books.  There's no reason to hide.  You don't have to remember the details to your last story because all your stories are true.  You're secure.

Dishonesty is so exhausting.

But people with integrity can say to a world that's watching:  "Go ahead and look.  My behavior will match my beliefs.  My walk will match my talk.  My character will match what I confess.  Who I am on Monday will be the same as who I claim to be on Sunday."

How are you doing with that?

And be blessed.

No comments: