Trying to act right?

People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will be exposed. (Proverbs 10:9)

Most of us really desire to have a walk of integrity - consistent, upright, and firmly grounded. What happens between desire and action is a mystery to many of us. We start so well, with all the right intentions in mind, but then somewhere in the middle, we just make wrong turns and get off-course. How do we become 'people with integrity'? When we ask this question, we are really asking how do we become 'whole'. We become 'whole' in the presence of Jesus - we remain 'whole' because we keep Jesus central in all our decisions.

As I did a bit of a deep dive into how we become people of integrity, I was amazed at how many self-help gurus have outlined the 'steps toward integrity'. All of these gurus completely leave Jesus out of the 'steps'. For example, in one article it tells us to 'try to keep our promises even if we need to make sacrifices to keep them'. Another tells us to 'discover our inner life', while someone else tells us to 'accept and listen to helpful criticism'. Sheesh! No wonder we are so confused about becoming people of integrity!

We don't find our 'integrity' in some 'set of steps'. We find it in Jesus. He is the only thing that completes us - makes us whole, consistent, and firmly grounded. When we struggle with right decisions, it is usually because we have moved Christ 'off-center' in our lives. When we really want to walk with integrity, we realize it is not found in 'doing', but in 'trusting'. We place our trust in the finished work of Christ, relying upon his wisdom and grace to help us take the necessary steps to 'be on course' all the time. That means we stop trying to help ourselves 'act right' and we allow him to create the conditions in our heart and mind that actually help us walk right. Just sayin!

What if?

Seek God while he’s here to be found, pray to him while he’s close at hand. Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful, come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness. (Isaiah 55:6)

"When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice." (William James) We are all broken people - all of us have our weaknesses and we all make mistakes. We all need to make the one supreme choice - will we serve self or Jesus? Seek God while he's here to be found - while he is close at hand, cry out. If we want healing in this world, we all need to abandon our desire to live by our own set of rules. Seek - go in search of; question so as to obtain; go to that place where you can meet a holy God. Where is that place? At the feet of Jesus. There is no other way to God except through trust in the one and only Son of God - Jesus.

Lavish with forgiveness - think about the immense love of God and you will be brought to your knees time and time again. His love is unending and undeserved. It seeks even when we don't. His power is greater than any of what we deem to be our enemies. His grace is deeper than any depth of the pit we can dig for ourselves in pursuit of selfish ambition. Our deepest pain is not beyond his healing touch. But...we must seek him - seek his grace, be open to his healing, and be willing to be lifted from that pit. When something is 'lavished', it is given in great amounts - without limit. God's forgiveness is without limits - it is given and given and given again. The seeker finds unrelenting grace at the foot of the cross.

You have a choice to make - accept the love and grace of God or reject it - you must choose wisely. To walk away from the lavish grace and love of God is kind of foolish, isn't it? Given without measure to those who don't even know how desperately they are in need of it. Making a choice is simple, but we complicate it with our 'what if' scenarios. What if God asks me to leave...? What if he asks me to give up...? What if God says I need to...? What if the path takes me a different way than...? What if...the two most dangerous words in our vocabulary that we could utter when faced with the choice to say 'yes' to Jesus. I have one more 'what if' I'd like you to consider today: What if you don't say "yes"? Just askin?

Don't buy new

Build upon what you have been given. This past weekend had a slight break in the absolutely hot weather, so I took advantage of putting together a stand for a friend's bike. The project had been lingering on my 'to do' list for way too long. As I thought about how to go about building this piece, I had many options, but I chose to 're-purpose' reclaimed wood to make the project's base. It was two inch thick pieces about five inches wide wood from some pallets I disassembled some time ago. Dried, solid, and beyond the degree of strength of the stuff I could get at the local builder's store, I chose to 'build upon what I had been given', so to speak. It turned out to make a very solid base to support the cruiser bike. We might not think that we can build upon much in our spiritual life, but one of the ways we can is to choose to build upon what we have been given and then to develop 'alert discipline' in its use. To a strong moral foundation (created by allowing the Lord to remodel how we interpret moral or good choices) and developing spiritual discernment, we are to add alert discipline. Usually, we think of discipline in one of two ways: 1) the character traits of being very organized, on top of things, and totally ordered in our daily work; or 2) the punishment we get when we don't make the right choices. Both are truthful meaning and each has a place in our lives as we 'grow' in Christ - allowing him to help us 'build upon what we have been given' in our walk.

So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.
(2 Peter 1:5-9)

The term "alert discipline" is really a kind of self-control - the ability to exercise some consistent type of restraint over our actions and our feelings. It carries the idea of being "level headed" in our daily walk. A disciple of Christ needs to be balanced in their emotions - that balance influences all the actions that one takes. Alert discipline is really a state of "stability" in our mind, emotions, and will. There are times I joke about 'losing my sanity' over something that is happening in my life - usually a build-up of events, one upon the other, until things are kind of spiraling out of control. At that moment, I need more than any other thing this 'alert discipline' spoken of here in this passage. Why? Without it, I am going to find myself buried under that mountain of mess rather than using it as a building foundation!

The idea of alert discipline is really an attitude or mindset toward remaining in a condition of stability or "sanity" in our daily walk. It is the ability to resist the tendency to "over-focus" on things that are really "minor" in the scheme of things and the ability to "re-focus" on the things that we need to be "majoring" in. It is the consistent control of our emotional investment in the things we are going through - attentively investing the right amount of emotional energy into those things (neither too much, nor too little). It is also the determined strength to resist that which will provide a negative effect in our lives and to invest in that which will allow us to grow. When someone shares that their 'sanity' is under attack, I don't take the request for "sanity" lightly - it is usually a reflection of a heart that is being "pulled" in a whole bunch of different directions. It is a heartfelt plea for balance. That is exactly what we need to add into our lives - total and complete balance. The next time you feel your world beginning to spin out of control, remember to ask God to add "alert discipline" into your daily walk, redirecting your emotions, focusing your mind and assisting in your battle of the will.

Stability (the ability to continue on without much change) is really a state that we are constantly moving toward. As we came to Christ, as babes in Christ, we possessed very little stability in the area of our emotions, will or mindset. We find that we are up one day, down the next, obedience coming easily this time, but with much effort the next. That is a natural part of growing in Christ. We need to recognize that as our moral fibers are "re-knit" and our spiritual discernment is being "fine-tuned", God is also moving about doing the work of bringing us into a state of stability (in our mind, will and emotions). We cannot have stability if the foundation is "off". We cannot enjoy consistency in our choices if we are not accurately "interpreting" life's events. The moment we begin to look at building upon what we have been given instead of always looking for new building materials, we might just find that with God's help in our lives there is much use for what it is we already possess! Just sayin!

And your appointment time is....

We all have appointments we have to keep, right?  This last week, I took a day off to run my mom to several appointments - dentist and eye doctor.  The dental appointment at least allowed me to shop a little for a few things we needed as there was a store nearby.  The eye doctor - what a wait!  To me, the 4 hour wait almost made it appear as though there was no appointment at all!  I have been "squeezed in" to see the doctor in times past, so this was cruel and unusual punishment just sitting in the huge waiting room with other disgruntled patients "in waiting".  Appointments are "planned events", right? There is a specific time and place - the parties agree to the meeting.  So, why the wait?  The appointment allows both parties to be ready for the purpose of the meeting.  So, why is it we are sometimes "ill-prepared" for some of the most significant appointments of a "divine" nature which have been arranged for our lives?

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.”  (John 4:13-14 CEB)

God makes "divine appointments" with the ones he loves.  In the Old Testament days, God made special days and seasons where he'd have special "appointments" with is people.  We sometimes here these called feasts, festivals, or holy days.  Today, a few churches still carry on this "tradition" of specials seasons or days - such as Lent or Good Friday.  These times of gathering together were big news for Israel - for these were times when God would often speak to his people, renewing them for the next journey they'd take, helping them to remember his faithfulness, and revealing to them the power and resources of the one they served.  Today, when we gather together in our churches, we don't usually see this same "focus" as the Old Testament believers possessed - because our "gathering days" are just that - gatherings. The divine appointment God intended by our gathering together is just not the same because the focus has drifted.

If you haven't come to realize it, God also has some "unscheduled appointments" in your life.  Now, that may seem a little bit like an oxymoron to you - "unscheduled" and "appointment" don't actually bespeak the same thing, do they?  Yet, in God's "appointment book", they are scheduled.  We just didn't get an "appointment card"!  These are the special times when God somehow slows us down just long enough to actually speak into our lives - bringing much needed direction, challenging us in some arena where we have become complacent, or just refilling us in such a way that our "battery" gets recharged for the next phase of our journey.

As we sat waiting for the doctor, mom and I kept our eyes peeled for the tall man with the dark hair, wearing blue scrubs.  Why?  He was the one we had the appointment with - a glimpse of him would give us hope we were not waiting in vain.  It is kind of like that with God's appointments - if you are diligent in looking for him, you will catch a glimpse of him as he begins to move.  That one glimpse does something within you - it bolsters your enthusiasm, gives you hope for the "next step", and lets you know the long wait has not been without purpose.  The woman at the well is a story many will remember from their Sunday School days.  If you haven't been exposed to it, here it is in a nutshell.  

She is a Samaritan - one who has been rejected by the more traditional Jewish believers because the form of worship the Samaritan's engaged in differed from that of the traditionalists.  Now, lest you think they were a little bit like a cult, they were not exactly, but they were a little misled.  In fact, they were looking for the Messiah - they just didn't have the same religious beliefs as the traditional Jews - because they had intermarried with men/women of differing beliefs.  The beliefs got a little intertwined with those of the lands they were living in and before long, they veered from what the traditional Jews believed, bringing a riff between the two parties.  As she comes to the well to draw water in the heat of the day, Jesus is there.  No disciples, as they have gone off to do some other business, just Jesus.  She is also alone, because she is a woman with a reputation.  She has married a good many men and the one she lives with now is not even her husband.  Could you just see the bylines in the local Jewish newspaper if they had paparazzi in those times? 

She wanted water - nothing more really is revealed in her actions.  She is about her daily duties, not really aware of this appointment.  I think she may have been thirsty for a little more than water - perhaps she was thirsty for love.  I think this is important to recognize, for God's divine appointments are seldom without the purpose of meeting us exactly where our real need is.  We always have a "proclaimed" need - but we also have an "unspoken" need which we cleverly try to conceal.  Jesus is all about meeting us in the "unspoken" - for in getting us to reveal this, he can finally begin to heal us right where we need it the most.  There is something I don't want us to miss about this encounter - and all others of the divine kind.  Jesus is blunt and honest about our sin - because he knows all about it already.  The only difference between his bluntness and honesty than that of others around us is his ability to be blunt and honest without any condemnation attached.

Truth is, if we aren't gonna get real with God, he will make one of these divine appointments with us so that we are forced to strip ourselves of all we hide behind.  It isn't so we can stand there naked and ashamed - it is so he can restore us to a "whole" state.  Just as Jesus looked past her sin and faults, he looks past ours to see what he values the most about each of us - our hearts.  In touching our hearts, he is quenching our real thirst.  In so doing, he is not intending to bring any shame, just restored hope, purpose, and joy.  This is grace in action.  God only opens our understanding of the awfulness of our actions in order to help us recognize where we need his touch the most.  God always views each of us through the eyes of potential, not judgment.  In his divine appointments with us, he is changing our life's course - changing our direction.  

Many of us feel like we are we are because of our mistakes in life.  It may be true - but when God makes a divine appointment with us, his grace moves us from this place of missed opportunities into the realm of fresh opportunities. We don't need to fear the appointment he makes with us.  They are never by accident.  Just sayin!

What inter-dependencies do you have?

Incapable:  Not having the necessary ability, qualifications, or strength to perform.  Some of us might even equate being "incapable" to being incompetent - lacking not only the strength, but also the knowledge behind the needed action.  If you asked me to fix the engine on my car, I'd admit I am incompetent - I don't have the strength to do some of the work anymore, and I sure don't have the knowledge to know how all those pieces fit together so they work exactly as they are designed.  I could go to school to learn the "how to", but it is not until I have practiced it a while that I develop some of the skill to actually say I am "good" at the task.  Yet something is still lacking  in the picture - I may know how it is supposed to all work, but I still am not as familiar with the engine as is the creator of the engine!  The creator has the most intimate knowledge because he envisioned it before it took form, designing each "moving part" to fit together a certain way, and knew the inter-dependencies of the parts he was designing.  It is this vantage point of the creator which gives him the unique position of being both capable and qualified to take the greatest care of that which he created.

When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross.  (Colossians 2:14 MSG)

Solomon spent a great deal of time evaluating some of the things he had encountered in life.  As a matter of record, we have his conclusions in the book of Ecclesiastes.  Some of this book has some pretty sad observations - almost as though he was concluding the worst with very little hope for the best.  About in the middle, he pens these words:  God made men and women true and upright; we’re the ones who’ve made a mess of things.  (Ecclesiastes 7:29 MSG)  I don't know about you, but I couldn't agree more.  We certainly do make a mess of things, don't we?

I think Solomon was simply saying we don't see how all the moving parts of our lives are fit together for good, so we do a lot of adjusting without really understanding the way our creator designed for our parts to function.  In reality, our lives are only functioning at their best when rightly connected to our creator - God himself.  Any other connection leaves us feeling a little incompetent - simply because we might have some "developed skill" to deal with life's challenges, but we lack the intimate knowledge of how the creator envisioned us working together for his purpose.

The most important thing we need to realize is our inter-dependencies.  If you are a strong-willed, mostly self-sufficient individual (like me), you probably struggle with this one a lot.  We don't want to admit we cannot take care of business on our own.  We don't see the missing "value" of the inter-dependencies.  Let me give you a little illustration to consider the importance of the inter-dependencies God has uniquely designed in our lives.  I have taken the back off of a watch on an occasion or two.  What I find behind the shiny backing is an inner working of multiple tiny gears, springs, and arms.  On tiny part "playing" on the strengths of another.  In contrast, all those tiny parts also are dependent on the weaknesses of the others.  Get just one out of position and the whole inner workings of the watch fail.

God has developed us to work best only when we are rightly positioned to allow all the inner workings to play upon the strengths of the other.  For example, if our emotions are out of whack - the inner workings of our mind begin to be "played" by the emotions.  Where the mind begins to go, the body is soon to follow.  The body responds with all kinds of hormonal changes, slowing this function, speeding up another.  In turn, we "feel" the way our emotions are leading us.  The old adage, "Laughter does a heart good", it more true than we might just realize.  

So, what does this all have to do with our passage today?  As easily as one tiny gear is dislodged in the watch, gumming up the works of the entire watch, so is the effect of us not being rightly related to God.  Sin disturbs this right relationship.  The fact is, we need to have our "gears" put back into right order by the master watchmaker himself - for only he knows how all these moving parts were actually created to work.  We could probably identify the one which is out of whack pretty easily - but only he knows how to get it into right position again, perfectly balanced so its inter-dependencies are played upon perfectly.  In Christ, God does this for us.  He brings about the ability for us to respond again to his touch in just the manner we were designed to respond from the beginning - all in the actions of the cross.  

It is often in the discovery of the "hidden" inter-dependencies of our life where we discover the absolute need for the wisdom and touch of the creator to put them into right order again.  Just sayin!