John Wooden wrote; “Don’t look for big, quick improvements. Look for the little improvements one day at a time. That’s the only way change happens. And when it happens… IT LASTS.” I once heard a preacher teach that you’ll never get rid of the big sins unless you take care of the little sins. What I’ve found through the years is that change requires patience, honesty, hard work, passion, and integrity. If you want to be the example in this life you first have to understand people and yourself, and then people can understand you better. It involves getting your priorities straight, and staying positive even in the midst of adversity.
What I’ve learned is that no team, organization, or church can survive without teamwork. Ball hogs and show boaters tear down a team. A team has fun, they learn new and better skills. They congratulate each other during the wins, and hold each other up during the loses. But the most important thing a team does is prepare for the future. When you were 6 months old it took a lot of practice for you to learn to walk. Then you had to learn how to run. But it took a lot of falling before you got it mastered. As a leader, church, or Christian you may fall a lot. But its when you get back up that you find new opportunities to shine.
But I want us to look at integrity from the view point of being one who gets back up. In the spirit of leadership there will be times you are going to stumble. There is no way around it the same is true for churches and Christians. No matter what you do in life people are going to judge your success by your integrity. It is said that life consist of 10% of your situation, and 90% of your character. People are watching to see how you handle yourself. If you are going to let the little failures in this life get you down, then you are going to be of no use to anybody. You will spend more time on trying to fix the past instead of preparing for the future. The great thing is that scripture teaches us to have integrity in a fallen world.
Lets look at what scripture has to say on this subject.
Every body looks at churches and sees success in numbers, events, and money given. But God looks at the integrity of a person and a church. Some of our churches are successful by human standards. We must remember that people are going to judge our churches on our integrity. The reason for that is we live by a higher standard, so we are held to a higher integrity.
Our Integrity
Proverbs 10:9 “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.” Life is a journey of many paths. The choices that lie ahead of us all is a reflection of our character to be a righteous person. We must exceed, execute, and excel with a strong character..”
Psalm 7:8 “Let the Lord judge the peoples. Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High.” That is a hard statement if you think about it. David wanted God to judge him by a higher standard then David judged himself. We put our integrity on the line when we seek the Lords approval. Our guilt and innocents are exposed when God searches our hearts. Being confronted can cause us, and should cause us to evaluate our true intentions.
Psalm 25:21 “May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you.” This is not boasting it is knowing that because his hope and trust are in the Lord.
What he wants to do is build on that foundation so the lord will hold him accountable. He goes ahead and writes in Psalm 41:12 “Because of my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.
We need to lead with Integrity
Psalm 78:72 “And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.” God choose David as a young shepherd and set him over His people. That’s what integrity does for those living an upright life in the Lord. I’m not saying your going to be king or queen. I want you to see how God values our integrity.
Proverbs 11:3; 13:6; 29:10 (read) Integrity is never measured by one single act of our life. It is viewed by the habits we have developed through out our lifetime. The quality of a righteous person provides a constant protection of our character. So when we sin people know it is out of character for us. The wicked destroy their character because of sin and it reveals their character as not trust worthy. If you go back to Proverbs 13:5 the word shame is literally translated as “to cause to stink” In other words sin brings about a stench that chokes life out of a person. I think of a person overcome by bad fumes. They are thrown into chaos and unable to think clearly. I had that experience when I inhaled some Anhydrous Ammonia at work one year. Wicked me have destroyed their character and so they try to destroy your integrity also to their own satisfaction.
Matthew 22:16 “They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. ‘Teacher,’ ‘they said,’ “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.” That tells me they knew the truth about Jesus and could find no reason to question his integrity.
Let The Church set the example
Titus 2:7-8 (read). Make your words incorruptible that way people can see the seriousness of the situation. Let us remember that false teaching always lowers the standard of truth. Success always follow failure in any situation. What most people do is give up in the failure. A baseball player who strikes out 70% of the time but hits over 400 home runs is called Babe Ruth and has a hall of fame induction. Did you know that a great 3 point shooter in basketball is someone who makes 35% of his shots and 60% of his free throws. Look at the percent of misses 65% and 40% failure rate. We may not be 100% in all our quest, but we’d better be at least 90% or better in our integrity.
Any church can be a winner and see success when they work as a team at church and away from church. We are a team and together we have the opportunity to finish the race. As Paul said in 1st Corinthians 9:24 “Run in such a away as to get the prize”
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