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CAM
'CORDER
Consider the word, "integrity"!
According to Webster's, "integrity" can be defined or employed in three principle ways:
Integrity is a quality or state of being complete; an unbroken condition; wholeness, entirety.
Integrity is a quality of being unimpaired; perfect condition; soundness.
Integrity is a quality or state of being sound moral principle; uprightness; honesty; sincerity.
If we, as professing Christians, are to have any kind of impact for Christ and His Gospel in this post-Christian era, we must be not mere believers of the Word, but doers of the Word as well. As Christ's followers, disciples, witnesses and ambassadors, this includes maintaining the highest standards of personal integrity.
Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 5:37, the sermon on the Mount, His main ethical and moral teachings in the Gospels, says, "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No', 'No, anything beyond this comes from the evil one." What is Jesus saying here? This is a section on "oath keeping." The sin being discussed here by Jesus in verses 33 - 37 is the sin of breaking one's oaths. These are not oaths made to God, but on the horizontal plane, oaths made to our fellow human beings. What Jesus is demonstrating against here is laxity in keeping one's word. He is saying, "If you can't keep your word, by all means do not take an oath!" This is Jesus' command of verbal integrity. Ultimately what He is saying is "would you folks just exercise honesty, be up-front, and tell the truth!"
As Christians in a culture and world wherein the "end justifies the means", where "it is all about me", and the "I don't care about others" mentality, we need to be the different people Christ says we need to be. It has been said that Christianity is more caught than taught. Of course, this assertion is only partially true. Yet, for many people we may be the leading (or only) contact they have with a Christian. They may evaluate the whole "Jesus experience" based on what they see and experience in us. That may be unfair, but it is probably true. Our honest, verbal integrity, ethical and moral behavior, being people of our word, can make a big difference in how people evaluate our faith expressions and their reality, and whether or not they should inquire further about the central focus of our being and why we are as we are. We must be doers of the Word and maintain the highest standards of personal integrity. Anything less degrades us as followers of the Christ.
Cordially,
Cam
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