I remember as a kid telling lies and being on pins and needles wondering if anyone would find out the lie and what kind of trouble I would get in.

“⁹Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.” – Proverbs 10:9 (ESV)

 “³The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.” – Proverbs 11:3 (ESV)

What a position to be in of one that destroys us. When we are constantly looking over our shoulder, how can we be looking forward for growth and learning?

I wonder how different my childhood would have been had some of those “little white lies” had not been told. Would I have been able to just keep playing and be able to focus on the tasks at hand and not worry about if someone would find out my indiscretion?

When we are in the world today, we are challenged to “fit in” and “get ahead”, and in doing so we may compromise our integrity in the process.

It is important that we stay true to our integrity so as to be able to truly “get ahead”. When we are steady with our integrity we can focus on what is next and not spend so much time worrying or looking over our shoulder wondering if we will be found out. When there is nothing to concern ourselves with from the past, we are secure to move forward.

Are there things that you are looking over your shoulder about? How much more could you accomplish without those distractions of looking backward? Going forward, are you willing to increase your integrity and provide that security for yourself?

“⁶I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.” – Psalm 101:6 (ESV)

David is declaring his value of integrity here. He states that only those that are of integrity will have his, “dwell with me”, and be his counsel, “minister to me”.

What an impactful way of going about things, only having those of integrity around you. I have found myself seeking to grow in a lot of areas and in that search I have been looking for great men and women to emulate and learn from. What if I search of men and women of integrity who are blameless instead of looking for outwardly “great” people? Shouldn’t I be looking inward as opposed to outward?

David make another declaration in verses 2 and 3 that go along here.

“²I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my own house; ³I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.” – Psalm 101:2-3 (ESV)

Be blameless yourself in your own world and those that are around you that are not of the same heart, do not have them as a part of your counsel.

I know that I placed these verses here in reverse order (6 then 2&3), and when I study values and missions, there is usually statements and philosophies of, first you then around you. Whereas I do agree that you have to have yourself in order before you can get to the outside, learning what to surround yourself with is an important step to growth and maintaining. Those that are around you will be able to supply the support you need to continue down the path.

Are you seeking to walk blameless? Who are around you that you can observe and learn from? Are you surrounding yourself with those that are blameless?

“⁵Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. ⁶I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.” – Job 27:5-6 (ESV)

In Job 2:3 God declares that Job “holds fast his integrity” and here in verse 5 Job declares he “will not put away” his integrity. Talk about being on the same page.

Job was explaining his position with God to those that were speaking out against him. I like that he was not defending himself, only explaining. God had declared that Job was a man of integrity at his heart and Job was simply confirming that which was true.

When I review these verses, I cannot help but wonder if God and I are on the same page. What I believe about myself, is that what God believes or has in mind for me? Do I even know what my position is?

Are you able to explain your position? What is that position, do you know? Are you and God on the same page?

“³And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.’” – Job 2:3 (ESV)

We have this verse/passage after Job, a wealthy upright man, has lost everything at the hand of Satan. All of his possessions, and family were lost in Satan’s attempt to break him from his Christian integrity for God. And yet Job maintained.

After this verse Job is afflicted with health issues and still he holds fast to his integrity for God.

We may not be afflicted with such horrible acts, or maybe we are afflicted with similar. Satan was allowed to test Job for God knew his heart. Even with the loss of everything and failing health, job maintained.

What afflictions have you experienced? Are we able to maintain our integrity? How strong is your Christian Integrity?

“⁴And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, ⁵then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’” – 1 Kings 9:4-5 (ESV)

Pretty powerful message from God to Solomon. It is up to Solomon to follow in the integrity of his father to be established and have his throne live forever.

But it does not stop there. The promise was also dependent on the integrity of Solomon’s lineage as well.

“⁶But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, ⁷then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and they house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.” – 1 Kings 9:6-7 (ESV)

You see, we are only as those around us. We can be torn down by our lineage. It is up to us to pass down our integrity as it is a picture of who we are.

Now I know that we cannot “make” others act and live a certain way. We have a duty to start with them as early as we can to instill the integrity in them so that when they act, they act as then know and want as opposed to being drawn in by others around them. We have a task to pass down to our lineage than which is right.

Is your integrity of heart where it should be for God? What about your lineage? Have you passed your integrity to your lineage?

“¹⁰And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven,…” – Luke 12:10 (ESV)

And there you have it. If we happen to, in the heat of the moment, use a word or two against our Savior, we will be forgiven.

There are a couple of pieces I dug into. First, “a word”. This is not to be misconceived as a tirade of expletives at every turn of every day. We all have moments of lapse and regret for our misgivings. But to consciously continue with those misgivings is where the issue is. Second, “will be forgiven”. We will be when we repent and take accountability for those words.

“¹⁰…but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” – Luke 12:10 (ESV)

And there is the second part. Continued misgivings without any repentance and deliberate turns away from God is not forgivable.

“…the persistent and unrepentant resistance against the work of the Holy Spirit and his message concerning Jesus—this, Jesus says will not be forgiven. The person who persists in hardening his heart against the work of the Holy Spirit…” – ESV Commentary

Our concern with whether or not we have blasphemed, that in itself is repentance. We do not have to know what it was we spoke against Jesus, we simply need to know that we did and we will be forgiven.

“²³Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! ²⁴And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” – Psalm 139:23-24 (ESV)

Have you spoken out against our Savior? Are you repentant of your misgivings? Are your anxious of what God thinks?

“⁷And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. ⁸For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains. ⁹But be on your guard…” – Mark 13:7-9 (ESV)

I find it interesting that there have been and will continue to be those that believe they know when Jesus is coming back, even when He indicates that only the Father knows.

In these verses, Jesus is discussing of the “signs of the close of the age”. I pay particular attention to the end of verse 8 where He says, “the beginning of birth pains”. When Lori was pregnant with Bryson, our oldest son, we went to the hospital as instructed at 6 am to begin for the process of C-section later that day. When we arrived and she was hooked up to the machines (I know that sounds so futuristic), we were informed that she had been in labor for some time already. We were told to get everyone here that we wanted because the birth would be happening in the next hour or so. We had done all of our preparations for Bryson’s birth, but were still surprised when we were told it was happening so quickly.

The story of Bryson’s birth is in no way to be similar to the returning of Christ, however it does show us that what Jesus says in the above verses makes sense. We can prepare and prepare and prepare for His return, but when the time is upon us his arrival will be quite the event.

We are to prepare for, however not worry about His return. When Jesus returns, we will know.

“¹³…But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” – Mark 13:13 (ESV)

Are you spending your days trying to calculate when Christ will return? Have you thought about just living with knowing He will return? Are you prepared to know when He is returning?

“¹⁷Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, ¹⁸and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.” Matthew 10:17-19 (ESV)

Again, Jesus lets us know that adversity is certainly coming our way. He mixes no words and does not sugar coat it. We will be persecuted for our life in Christ.

Do not be anxious or worried. God will provide what we need in our time persecution. The interesting thing is that God may not “deliver” us from the persecution, however He will give us the proper actions and words to speak to glorify Him and make our time worthwhile.

We are here to spread the gospel, and with that we will be persecuted. What we say to those doing the persecuting should be planned carefully and with the guidance of God. When we are properly prepared, the words from God are more easily accessible and therefore we are able to spread the gospel in all situations.

“¹⁶Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” – Matthew 10:16 (ESV)

Are you prepared for the sharing of the gospel? When pressed by others, are you anxious as to what to say to spread the gospel? Are you looking for deliverance or are you content in spreading the Word of God?

Do you find yourself worried about what’s next, what you will eat, or drink, or wear? God provides for our essentials in life.

“²⁵Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” – Matthew 6:25 (ESV)

Jesus is pretty clear here in verse 25. Don’t worry about the essentials. I wonder how much more joy we would be able to have if we simply accepted what God provides for the essentials and did not look for more, “better”, “nicer”? What if we just spent our lives content with what God provides and used our energy to focus on Him?

“²⁶Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” – Matthew 6:26 (ESV)

We are made in the image of God and therefore aren’t we of more value than the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and the lilies of the field? With that being so, and God provides for the needs and essentials of they, then wouldn’t He provide for the essentials for us?

It is up to us to be focused on the work of God and less on the work of man.

“³³But see first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” – Matthew 6:25-26 (ESV)

We are to be focused on God and doing his work. When we are worried about the essentials, are we truly focused on Him?

Yes, we should prepare for tomorrow, but preparation is different than worry. When we prepare, we set the stage to know, with as much certainty as possible, what is coming and to take action. To worry is to allow the unknown to consume and paralyze us into inaction.

Are you anxious as to where your next meal out on the town, next designer bag, or next glass of wine comes from? Are you focused on planning for what comes next, or paralyzed with fear of the unknown? Are you anxious about the essentials or planning for God?

“³Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. ⁴Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’” – Isaiah 35:3-4 (ESV)

What a positive and inspiring set of verses. When you need Him most, Isaiah lets us know that “He will come”. Not ‘try’ to make it, but ‘will’ come.

When we think of God and His coming again, often I wonder when He is coming. I try to determine if and when I can expect His coming and what that will mean for me. All that trying creates an enormous amount of anxiety and worry about where I am and will I ever get out of where I am. Isaiah tells me, with all my anxiety to, “Be strong; fear not!”

I guess I should listen and take note. Don’t be anxious because when God makes a promise, He follows through with that promise. God “will come and save” me from the trouble I am in. Why, because He is God!

Are you worried about when you will come out of the difficulty? Are you thinking about how you will make it? Are you willing to rest in that “God will come”?