Every day each one of us is faced
with choices that need to be made. We choose which outfits we are going to put
on, we choose whether we are going to have coffee and donuts for breakfast or
have a healthy smoothie instead. Every day we are faced with choices. As I was
praying this morning I realized that some of my choices lately have not been
very good ones, that some of these choices have resulted in sin before my God.
This led me to a place of humble repentance before my God as I laid my heart
open before Him. It brought me to a place where I asked the Lord to examine my
integrity.
Integrity is a word that should
cause all of us to sit up and take notice. For us, as Christians, we should all
be walking before the Lord in the integrity of our hearts daily. But what does
integrity have to do with the choices we make every day? Do we walk with
integrity before God and before man? And, if integrity is so imperative to our
walks, then how do we know we are walking in integrity? Good question! I asked
the same thing myself.
Integrity means to be innocent of
mind, it means to live uprightly, and it also means to walk blameless before
God and before man. Integrity is the equivalent to honesty, sincerity, and
genuineness. Now, if you are like me, when you read these definitions you know
immediately that you have not walked in integrity, not all the time anyway. And
besides, who on this earth is blameless before God? Romans 3:23 tells us that “all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” There is no one blameless
before God, so then how can we walk blameless or with integrity before God if
that is the case?
Our integrity begins in the choices
we make every day. Do we walk blameless before God in our choices? Each one of
us is given choices to make. We choose to lie or tell the truth. We choose to
encourage that sister in the Lord, or we choose to gossip about her behind her
back. We choose to serve God or we choose to serve ourselves. We have the
choice to love someone or hate someone. We have the choice to forgive that
person who just hurt us, or hold onto that hurt until it turns into bitterness.
We choose to either walk in integrity, or we choose to walk in our sins.
My mom used to tell me that no one
could make me do anything, or make me feel anything- I alone was the keeper of
my own body and my own choices. I never really understood what she meant by
that until much later in my life. She was right. I choose to be angry at my
husband, or I choose to have patience with him and show him love. I choose. No
one chooses for me. I choose. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that “No
temptation has overtaken you except such is common to man; but God is faithful,
who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the
temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
When we are faced with the choice to
sin, or to walk away, no one else makes that choice for us but ourselves. No
one forces you into choosing sin- you alone are in control of that choice. God
is the Author and Finisher of our lives. He is the One and only One who is in
complete and utter control of every aspect of your life. But, He also gave you
the ability to have free will. You alone choose whom you will serve; God does
not force you to any one direction. All throughout the Bible He tells us to “choose
this day whom you will serve.” With the
choices that are before us there is always a way of escape. God never leaves us
hanging. He always gives us the option to either choose Him or choose sin. No
one is to blame for our choices but us.
Go all the way back to Genesis 3 in
the Garden of Eden. Eve is faced with a choice. She could either choose to take
the fruit that was offered to her, or she could turn away from it. She was not
forced into taking anything- she chose to take it and eat of it. She chose to
sin. Adam as well, he chose to take the fruit that Eve, his wife, offered to
him. He could have told her no- he could have called out to God for His help
and advice, for His strength to resist the temptation, but he didn’t. He alone
chose to take the bite that threw every single man, woman and child on the face
of this earth into sin. No one forces you to make the decisions you make- you
alone are responsible before God for your choices.
Our integrity is compromised through
the choices we make. When we choose to lie to our boss about being sick and
call into work, we have chosen to walk in our ways and not in integrity before
our God. When I stand before my God, I will answer for the choices that I have
made, I will answer for the way I walked before Him. No one is to blame for our
choices, except us. Adam tried to blame the reason for his sin upon Eve.
(Genesis 3:12) But what did God say? Did He look at Eve and only chastise Eve
for the sin? No, He disciplined them both, because each one of them was
responsible for the choices that they made as individuals before Him. (Genesis
3:17)
Even if a gun was pointed to your
head, and you are asked to renounce Jesus Christ, still you alone are required
to make that choice. We have no one to blame except ourselves. But, there is
hope! Even in our choices, our God is a forgiving God. John reminds us of this
truth when he writes, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
When we come to that place where we
realize and recognize the need for us to walk before our God with integrity,
then we will also understand the need for us to be examined before Him in all
that we do, and say. In Revelation chapter 2-3 Jesus says to each one of the Churches,
“I know your works”. He already knows the very depths of our hearts. He knows
the motives behind our choices, the excuses we make for those choices, and He
knows the reasons why we have made the choices we have made. There is nothing
hidden in His sight. Therefore, if we want to walk in integrity before our God,
we must, like David pray to be examined daily. “Examine me, O Lord, and prove
me; try my mind and my heart.” (Psalm
26:2) If we desire integrity, then we must acknowledge that we alone are
responsible for all the choices and sins we have made before our Holy and
Blameless God. Without this understanding we cannot and will not be able to
walk in the integrity of our own hearts.
Father God, examine me. Examine my integrity today. In Jesus
Name, amen and amen.
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