I borrowed this picture from Geowalk on my Ipad. The picture is of a tornado taken from what they called tornado alley. It made me think about the Thessalonian scriptures and the turmoil that must have been in the churches in Thessalonica. Paul’s words are meant to calm the storm. Just wondering what people see when they come into your church on Sunday. Do they get the sense that storm clouds are brewing.
Please read scripture from 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8. It is from last weeks readings. This scripture reminded me of an article I read from my Leadership Bible. The article talks about Integrity and what it means to have integrity. I have copied the article below and I hope it tells each of you that it is vitally important for us to be like Paul. We must talk the talk and walk the walk. Too many people have used the excuse that there are nothing but hypocrites in Churches today. While we who are in church recognize that we are imperfect beings, we also know that we need to be working towards perfection.
When we talk about integrity today, we generally use other, closely related terms such as ethics and morality. But a clear understanding of the concept of integrity requires clear thinking about all three words. Each has a distinct meaning. When properly used, they bring clarity to a crucial but often misunderstood leadership essential:
Ethics refers to a defined standard of right and wrong; good and evil. It’s what we say we believe and do.
Morality is a lived standard of right and wrong, good and evil. It’s what we actually do.
Integrity means “sound, complete, integrated.” To the extent that a person’s ethic and morality are integrated, that person has integrity. To the extent that a person’s ethics and morality are not integrated, that person lacks integrity.
Lets look at this another way. If John tells you he will lie, cheat and steal from you, he has a low ethic. If he does business that way, he also has a low morality. John is unethical and immoral, but he has integrity-twisted as it may be-because the moral- ity is consistent with the ethic. If John claims to cheat and steal but doesn’t cheat and steal, he is moral in practice but lacks integrity, because his morality doesn’t match the ethic. Think about that a bit.
You can have a high or low ethic. You can be moral or immoral. Your choice. But if you want to have integrity, you must choose your ethic and live to match it.
The Bible teaches a high and holy ethic. A person who claims to be a Christian and to live by Biblical standards makes an ethical statement. He or she has committed to a certain morality. For that person to have integrity, then, he or she must live by the Biblical ethic. Jesus makes it unequivocally clear that the worst choice is the hypocritical one.
Lots to think about here. Have a blessed day and be at peace with who you are knowing that your efforts to grow spiritually will be rewarded based on how much effort you put into that growth. Meditation + study + prayer = Spiritual Growth.
Randy
Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX 