Integrity is a lived out action!

1 Samuel 3:19-21

Integrity is a lived out action, its home is the heart of a person who fears God, and it is manifest in all aspects of life.  One does not expect to see this in a child, but Scripture is clear the boy Samuel walked in Integrity before God and man.  1 Samuel 2:26, “Now the young man Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and also with man.”

Have you ever said or heard someone say; “what does God require of me?”  I believe the answer is more than your flesh can ever hope to accomplish.  The apostle Paul gives this insight in Galatians 5:16-18, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”  So as one who desires to follow Jesus Christ, the first step is to enter into Christ by agreeing that His blood shed for you is your only hope you have for being in right standing with God the Father.  We call that confession, and when we enter into Christ His Spirit comes to us, we call that being born again.  But it is a matter of your will, each day, at every turn it’s a choice, will I trust the Spirit to lead me or will I listen to the best the world offers.

This quote from Major W. Ian Thomas is on the spot, “Lord Jesus, I can't—You never said I could—but You can, and you promised you would.”  And one last quote from the Major, "The measure of a man's worth is the measure in which he no longer lives "to and for himself," but "to and for Jesus Christ." No more and no less!"  So if you deal with the question; “what does God require of me?”  I believe Micah 6:8, has the answer to how one can be a person of Integrity before God and man.  “He has told you, O man what is good: and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” 

If you are keeping a foot in the world and trying to keep one in the Spirit, I have some bad news; your only hope is a funeral.  Without death to the flesh and its desires you will never live for Jesus Christ.  This is reported about young Samuel in chapter three, verses 19 - 21, “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.”

The question has not changed from the beginning; God’s desire is for you to be a person of worth, be a Samuel.  But the other choice is to be independent of God, and foolishly believe you are in charge of things, you then fall into the camp with Eli’s son, and God calls them worthless.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice