Integrity, It's Important!

Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will.
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658, British Parliamentarian General)

1 John 1:6-10
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. NASU

Integrity, how important is integrity to the Christian? It is everything, and I’m afraid that it is the lack of integrity that is impacting many churches today. It is to say what you mean, and to mean what you say. It is to be truly on the inside, what you look like on the outside. In this verse in 1 John, we can see one of the measures of integrity, and it is fellowship.

1 John tells us that if we “walk in the light” we have fellowship one with another, and, we have a constant and continual cleansing, by the blood of Jesus for our sins. That should put fellowship at the top of our list on the way to acquiring integrity. I also see that there is a continual “confessing” demanded to claim the cleansing and forgiveness that Christ offers us, and to deny that we have sinned takes the light away.

Now the path of integrity is plain to see. When we are truthful with ourselves and our sin, we can fellowship with others that do the same. But the minute that we begin to deny our faults, of which we have many, our integrity is lost. We are to hold our lives up before the eternal light and perfection of Christ Himself for daily cleansing, to remain in fellowship with our God, and each other…God Bless.

Pastor William