Spiritual Disciplines
Maintaining Integrity of Heart
So fearful were the ancient Chinese of their enemies on the north that they built the Great Wall of China, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. It was so high they knew no one could climb over it, & so thick that nothing could break it down. Then they settled back to enjoy their security.
But during the first 100 years of the wall’s existence, China was invaded 3 times. Not once did the enemy break down the wall or climb over its top. Each time they bribed a gatekeeper & marched right through the gates. According to the historians, the Chinese were so busy relying upon the walls of stone that they forgot to teach integrity to their children.
Contributed by Melvin Newland
Let’s look at the key points of the last two weeks:
- Yielding to the Power of the Holy Spirit
- Submitting All to God’s Authority in my life
This week we conclude our series on Spiritually Disciplining Ourselves by recognizing the importance of Maintaining Integrity of Heart. Look at the definition of integrity:
integrity (n)
1 the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness
2 the state of being whole and undivided (That sounds familiar doesn’t it?)
• the condition of being unified, unimpaired, or sound in construction (So does that!)
Proverbs 4:25-27 (NIV)
Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
When we see the story of the Wall of China we see that no matter how well we “know” God’s Word, we will fail catastrophically if we are not taking heed to practice it in our hearts.
One of the easiest definitions of integrity I learned as a child is: “Integrity is what you do when nobody is around or watching.”
God is calling us to live lives that reflect our transformation, on the inside and out. The definition of integrity refers to being whole and undivided. As we discussed last week, God wants ALL of us. So to live a life of integrity means to dedicate yourself 100% to God’s commands, wisdom and guidance!
A few years ago Lindsay and I bought our first condo. However, before we could move in, it needed, as one of my friends called it, some TLC [Tender Loving Care]. To be honest, it needed a lot of TLC! We had one week to get the place into a livable condition, and we got right to work. But as we did that, I felt like God was revealing a strategy for pursuing a pure heart; a heart that desires to maintain integrity.
1. Identify the Problems
Our new place had several issues that could only be attributed to neglect of the previous owner. The carpet was stained and loose. The paint was old and cracking in some places. And there were parts of the house that just needed to be plain cleaned!
2 Timothy 2:22 (NIV)
Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Some Areas the bible points out as impure:
Thought Life
1 John 2:15-17 (NLT)
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
This is one everyone struggles with! This is where I believe most of our troubles begin. With a thought…then it snowballs into an avalanche that we can no longer stop or control!
Sexual Immorality
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5,7 (NLT)
God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.
7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.
It’s important that we define sexual immorality: sex outside of marriage
Do you know why the bible tells us to stay away from sex outside of marriage? – Protection! The damaging affects this can bring, will hurt you more than you know!
Our culture today seems to celebrate sexual immorality, but what you never see are the consequences. We are called to a higher standard; to be people of integrity in all aspects of our life.
Attitude
Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV)
This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD , who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.
Just like our impure actions and thoughts, our attitude and way we carry ourselves can be a huge stumbling block and ultimately discredit your witness.
I may have Christ in my heart, but if I’m a self-absorbed jerk, our just generally rude, crude or just plain mean, why would anyone outside the faith want to have what I have?
Words
Ephesians 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
I strongly believe our words are a measure of our heart condition. I will be the first to admit that I slip in this area, because taming the tongue is a constant battle. But that doesn’t mean I quit when I stumble. We must make a deliberate effort to watch our words: Swearing, Gossip, etc.
Priorities
2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
What’s more important to us? These things that are going to hold us back? Or what God has for us?
Place priority on the Spiritual Disciplines in our lives and the other “matters” of life will begin to flow underneath accordingly.
Galatians 6:7-8 (NLT)
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.
Our youngest dog, Bristol, is just under a year old. We can always tell when she’s getting into something she shouldn’t because she’s not around us. We’ve found that she has a couple different places in the house where she’ll go and hide to chew on whatever she’s found. One time I was cleaning the bedroom, and as picked up the floor by the bed I discovered her “stockpile”. There were chewed up socks, tissue, whatever! Bristol thought she was being clever in hiding it, but it found her out eventually!
If we are not willing to acknowledge the issues of sin that we struggle with in our lives, it will eventually find us, and lead to our downfall.
2. Get Help!
After I saw all the work that needed to be done, I called all my friends that I knew could help. I had a friend help rip up the carpet with me. I had a friend help me lay down wood laminate. I had a friend help paint the walls. Why? Because I knew I could not get it done alone.
Proverbs 28:13 (NIV)
He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
When we keep our sins to our self, it festers and gets worse.
Galatians 6:2-3 (NLT)
Share each others burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. 3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
If you’re struggling with anything, find someone who can help keep you accountable. It’s biblical!
If we are truly pursuing God’s purity in our life, we will hear the advice from our brothers and sisters in Christ, and take it to heart.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV)
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Hear me, you cannot do it alone! – I can’t tell you how much it helps me to have a group I can go to. If you don’t, have anyone you can trust, find a pastor or somebody who is concerned with your spiritual well being!
3. Realize, it takes time!
The process of ripping out the carpet took us a full day’s work. Laying the wood laminate took almost the entire week! And painting was about two days on top of that. Good work takes time and effort. The same is true in our own lives! Purification is a process, and sometimes it’s a painful and hard process. Sometimes it means letting go of that unhealthy relationship, or turning off the TV and computer!
Pursuing the Life of Integrity means always being open to the refining process God is pushing us towards.
Psalm 66:10 tells us that God has “refined us like silver”.
The process of refining silver is a long process of heating the metal until all the imperfections have boiled out. Once the silver is cooled, it is then re-heated again to remove any other imperfections. This process is repeated until there are no signs of anything that isn’t the precious metal.
Here’s where people can get mixed up. They think that because you lose that relationship, or you turn off the computer that your problem is solved. Just because you heat up the silver doesn’t mean it’s refined right? It’s just the first step. You gotta keep heating it, and boil those impurities out!
Galatians 6:9 (NLT)
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.
Bottom-line: if it interferes with our purity before God, it’s going to take time to fully overcome with God’s help and our constant desire for purity.
4. Never Underestimate!
As we got to the end of laying the laminate, we realized we were three planks short of finishing the job! Three stinkin’ planks! Then when we were painting, we came up a little short there too! It can be the same in our walk. We may think that we are above or have conquered what we struggle with, but all it takes is one slip, and we’re right back where we started.
Titanic Story – The Titanic was slated to be the best ship ever built. It as hailed as “indestructible”, but when it hit an iceberg on it’s maiden voyage, it sank. It has since been discovered that it was not the size of the iceberg that sank the ship, but rather that it was rushed to completion before a looming deadline and was created using cheap steel, and poor rivets, ultimately dooming the massive ship.
Matthew 26:41 (NLT)
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.
Basically, if you know you struggle staying pure in a relationship, either end it or don’t put yourself in situations where you’ll be tempted. Stay off the internet if you now it’ll be too great a temptation!
Say somebody struggles with alcoholism, a bar is probably not the best place for him to hang out!
Don’t give into gossip, or slander. Avoid circles that do.
Don’t underestimate your ability to give into sin! You will fail!
I want to take this one step further and say, don’t underestimate your ability to cause others to fall into sin.
We have dispenser for powdered coffee creamer like what you would see in a diner. However, I think it dispenses too slow, and unscrew the lid and spoon my portion in. At Christmas, my family was visiting and one morning I forgot to screw it back on fully. My Dad came in to put creamer in his coffee and got a lot more than he intended. It was my fault! I wasn’t considerate of others.
1 Corinthians 10:31-33
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33 even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
We may not struggle with certain things, but others we know might. So therefore, we must be considerate that our own actions do not prevent someone from realizing salvation or continuing to live as a new creation.
5. The job is never done!
We may have completed the big jobs, but there are still a lot of little things that need to be done to make it compete. I’ve learned that as a homeowner I will always be doing work on my home. In fact, as long as there are homes, there will always be home improvement stores!
2 Chronicles 15:7 (NLT)
But as for you, be strong and courageous, for your work will be rewarded.
You say you’ve overcome your temptations? Great! Keep working at it! And while you’re doing that, look for other areas in your life that could use more of God’s touch and you’ll find your life to be more a fulfillment of God’s purpose.
We will always be a work in progress, until we enter into heaven!
Romans 6:13 (NLT)
Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.
Can people tell what you stand for by the way you act—not what you say, but how you live your life?
-Prayer
