Have you ever heard of the phrase, “Speaking truth from the heart”? It is all about integrity. It concerns motivation, honesty, and truth all rolled up in one. Do you live an upright life when no one is looking? If you had the chance to get away with something that you know is wrong, would you do it if no one would ever found out? It all boils down to integrity and living a life pleasing to the Lord.
1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? 2 The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart. Psalm 15:1-2 David reminds us that we are to be blameless in order to dwell in the Lord. It means that you cannot even be accused of any unrighteous acts. It reminds me of when the Lord appeared to Solomon in 1 Kings. 9 When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, 2 the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The Lord said to him: “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 4 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ 6 “But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 8 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 9 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.’” 1 Kings 9:1-9 In verse 6 when it says, “you,” it is plural in the Hebrew which means, “You all.” Pardon my Tennessee talk. The following Biblical conclusions about integrity fall from this passage.
Chew on this today and thank the Lord that He provides the means necessary to love and follow Him with all of our heart. This Sunday in the 2ndSunday of Advent. The first service will be in the Worship Center and the second service will be in the Family Life Center with a family ministry flare to it. You will want to be sure and come to participate in the Unexpected during this season of wonder. Joy in Jesus! Pastor Mike
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Rev. Mike McClurgSenior Pastor, Findlay First Church of the Nazarene Archives
March 2020
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