Seen or Unseen - We Know

(photo from cengage.com)

Today, let’s think about integrity. We desperately want to see it in our political leaders, especially those who declare their Christianity all over their campaign literature vying for our votes.

As Christians, it should be upper most in our personal characteristics to show exemplary integrity when we’re in the public eye, as well as when we’re alone walking to our car after a grocery shopping spree. (I use the word spree to make it sound like grocery shopping is fun, when in fact, it can be a financial burden for many to put food on their tables, these days.)

What does exemplary integrity look like to you? Is it okay to cut corners when no one is looking? When you get to your car to unload those expensive groceries and discover there’s something in your cart you didn’t get charged for, do you shrug your shoulders and declare that it’s not your fault the cashier didn’t ring it up? Do we justify not paying for it by arguing that we overpaid for every else in the cart? Or do we take the time to walk back in and pay for it? Afterall, no one will ever know what choice we make. Right? Well, yes, God sees everything, but He’s not going to strike us down with a lightning bolt for stealing the item. We know the right thing to do, but do we always do the right thing?

I’ve dealt with people who showed me they had no integrity at all. Honestly, it hurts. But do I sometimes treat others with less exemplary integrity in my heart? Oftentimes, others can tell when we’re cheating them. They may just lack the guts it takes to confront us.

(photo from changingaging.org)

When we find ourselves in a compromising situation, do we sometimes assure ourselves with statements like “the ends justify the means…”? It can be pretty easy to talk ourselves into justifying something we felt we had to do. Satan is right there to encourage us with excuses for justifying something we know right well we shouldn’t do. Yes, we want to hold politicians (and everyone else) to this standard, but do we measure up?

I don’t bring you these words to beat you up, but to encourage you to good works. Sometimes, we need a loving reminder to check our hearts and make sure the enemy hasn’t worked his way in with subtle deceptions. Just sharing some good points to ponder.

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,” - Hebrews 10:24 (NKJV)

“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” - James 4:17 (NKJV)

Hard Questions

(photo mine)

Someone I love recently asked me a hard question about something they’d read in the Bible. The things we read in the Bible can bring up a lot of hard questions, there’s just so much we don’t understand. I thank God for the men and women among us that study the Bible (perhaps the way we all should) that have taken the time to learn both Greek and Hebrew, who are schooled in the cultures of biblical times and can expound on what we’re reading. We need to avail ourselves of the books and/or perhaps blogs they’ve written, websites they’ve created and teachings they provide.

Many things in the Bible are hard to digest. We ask, ‘why did God do that?’ – or, ‘why is this even recorded here?’ We ponder and pray, but oftentimes come away with no viable answers. Does that mean we should just throw our hands up in the air and conclude that we weren’t meant to understand?

Now, more than ever, answers are at our fingertips. We pull up an internet browser, type in a question and voila – we have more answers than we know what to do with. Of course, we can’t believe everything we read or hear, we need to pray for discernment and keep our nose in the Word of God ourselves and listen for when God speaks directly to us. He does still do that, you know. But if we’ve convinced ourselves that we’ll never hear from God in a personal way, we may well miss out on that experience.

(photo mine)

When we open our hearts to what God’s sharing with us, our whole world opens up, too. We see things in a new light; we experience things we never knew were possible, we find answers more easily than we find our car keys. We discover a depth to our existence that wasn’t there before. We connect with those around us, and with nature itself on a brand new level. Life holds greater value and physical death takes on deeper meaning. Relationships unfold and purpose is revealed.

Will we ever have all the answers? I’m thinking that won’t happen until we completely let go of this world and take hold of the next. Anticipation mounts when we begin to accept things we can’t see with our eyes or hear with our ears. Lack of tangible evidence shouldn’t limit our imagination or lock us into tiny paradigms with no room to explore. Discovery is the treasure of discovering treasures.

What if God is communicating things to us that we’re refusing to acknowledge? It’s not only our loss, but a loss to ours and future generations.

(insidesales.com)

“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” – 1 Timothy 3:16 (KJV)

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for that that love him.” – 1 Corinthians 2:9 (KJV)

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:18 (KJV)

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)

Dig deeper? Walk a few steps further? Look outside the box you're sitting in? Let go of the ties that bind you? 

Answers come. Freedom happens.