“Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Matthew 7:24 (NIV)
In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells the story of two builders: a wise one and a foolish one. The foolish man builds his house on sand. When a storm comes, the house falls with a great crash. Jesus says people who hear his teachings but don’t put them into practice are like that foolish builder. The wise builder, though, builds his house on the rock. When rain and winds come, his house stands firm. Jesus says: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24 NIV). James also had a lot to say about practicing what the Bible teaches. The first chapter of the book of James concludes with three examples of how you can know that you’ve been effectively putting God’s Word into practice:
Those things, James tells us, are evidence of genuine Christianity. In John 13:17, Jesus tells his followers: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (NIV). The blessings of the Bible come when you put its teachings into practice. No matter who you are, you know more spiritual truth than you’re living out right now. So just start where you are today. Practice what you already know. And then, as you learn more, put that into practice, too. Be a doer of the Word.
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“Each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (Romans 14:12 NIV).
One day there’s going to be an audit on your life. On that day, you will have to answer for not only how you spent your money but also how you used everything God gave you. What did you do with what you were given—your talent, your relationships, your opportunities, your mind, your creativity, your contacts, your time? What did you do with what God gave you? God’s church is filled with people at every level of economic status—people who are very poor, others who are very rich, and everyone in between. But it doesn’t matter how much or how little you’ve got. What matters is what you do with what you’ve been given and if God can trust you with more. Your time as a manager on earth is going to end one day, and you will give an account for what was entrusted to you. The Bible says, “Each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (Romans 14:12 NIV). You’re not going to live on earth forever. You weren’t meant to! But God has entrusted certain assets to you as a manager while you’re here. He is watching you and testing you and wants to see how you handle what you’ve been given. What are you doing with the mind he gave you? What are you doing with the health he gave you? What are you doing with the freedom he gave you? Are you spending it all on yourself? Do you believe the whole purpose of life is to live for yourself? You can decide now what you want your life to be about, and then start making choices that show God you want to live for what really matters. When you use your resources to make an eternal difference, you will hear God say to you someday, “Well done.” “not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,” (Ephesians 6:6 ESV).
If you’re a believer, no matter who your boss is at work, ultimately, you’re working for God. Whether or not anyone else sees what you do, God sees—and he doesn’t want you to waste the time and resources of your employer. Maybe you hate your job. Maybe you think you’re underpaid. It really doesn’t matter. The Bible says to do more than just the minimum required. God calls you to give your best. That’s what integrity looks like. You may know someone who only works hard when the boss is watching. Or you may see someone who takes company supplies home from the office, which is a form of stealing. Or you may work with someone who takes extra long breaks every day—or consistently comes in late and leaves early. Would you believe God compares this kind of work ethic to vandalism? Proverbs 18:9 says, “Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys” (ESV). The Living Bible translates the verse this way: “A lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things”. God considers it a serious sin when we don’t give a full day’s work for a full day’s pay. Even if no one else at work gives their all, followers of Jesus should. When you work as if you’re working for God, he will bless your integrity. Yes, your employer most likely will notice your commitment to the success of the company or organization, and that may lead to financial blessings. But more importantly, you will grow spiritually as you work in obedience to God. “Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.” (Proverbs 11:13 ESV).
Your relationships are one of the primary ways you show integrity. Relational integrity means you don’t talk one way about people in front of them and a different way behind their backs. In other words, you don’t gossip: “Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.” (Proverbs 11:13 ESV). What is gossip? Gossip is talking about a situation with someone who is neither the problem nor a part of the solution. Often, when we do it, it’s because gossip makes us feel a bit more important at someone else’s expense. We’re talking about their hurts and their problems to make us feel like we’re morally superior. That’s the danger and the hurt of gossip. The Bible says if you’re acting as a gossip, you can’t be trusted. Today, we see gossip run rampant on social media, even among Christians. We need men and women of integrity who know how to keep a confidence and not spread everything they hear through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and all the other channels we have to communicate today. Gossip, whether it’s on social media or in person, will tear churches apart. That’s why it's a good rule that what's said in a small group stays there. Everyone needs a safe place with a few friends where they can be real and not have to worry that what they say will go public. God says, “Anyone who spreads gossip is a fool” (Proverbs 10:18 GNT). No one wants to be a fool. Spreading gossip doesn’t just hurt the people you’re talking about. It also hurts you by weakening and destroying your relationships. You demonstrate integrity when you can be trusted to keep a confidence and to not speak behind someone’s back. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8 NIV).
Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that you are blessed when your heart is pure (Matthew 5:8). What does it mean to be “pure in heart”? Today, we’d use the word integrity. God blesses you when you live your life with integrity. Having integrity doesn’t mean you’re sinless or that you don’t make mistakes. If that were the standard, none of us could be considered pure in heart. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (KJV). The Bible says that Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Paul all had integrity. Yet none of them were perfect. God called David a man after his own heart, yet David committed adultery and arranged the murder of the woman’s husband—and faced the consequences for his sin. We can learn from these biblical heroes that you don’t need to be perfect to be a person of integrity. You just need a heart that is wholly committed to God. God is more interested in seeing your heart committed to him than he is in the sins you’ve committed. He looks at why you do what you do regardless of what you do. In 1 Samuel 16:7, God says, “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (NIV). No, you’ll never be perfect in this life. You’ll never be sinless, but you can sin less. You can commit to living with integrity and to maintaining a heart that is pure and devoted to God. Will you make that commitment today? "Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones” (Luke 16:10 GNT).
It’s common today to hear people say, “What you do in your private life is nobody’s business.” Well, that isn’t really true. What you do in your private life—behind closed doors or out of view of other people—builds and reveals your true character. And God sees it just as clearly as the things you do in public. In fact, the small, unseen things you do are the seeds to God’s public blessing on your life. You cannot compartmentalize your life and say, “I have integrity in my public life, just not in my private life.” I bet you could make a list right now of public figures that have tried to live this way, only to have their private indiscretions lead to public scandal and personal downfall. No matter what they say, any leader who is not faithful in small matters will not be faithful in large matters. This principle is nothing new. Jesus said, “If you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what belongs to you?” (Luke 16:12 GNT). For centuries, everybody who learned a skill, trade, or vocation learned it through an apprenticeship. If you were going to be a mechanic, you apprenticed to another mechanic and served in that person’s business before you started your own. As the apprentice, you had to be responsible with your master’s business before you were entrusted with your own. This principle of apprenticeship applies to every area of your life. It applies to how you handle other people’s money, how you handle other people’s possessions, and even how you handle other people’s ministry before God gives you your own. If someone loans you a car, how well do you take care of it? If a family lets you stay in their house for vacation, do you treat it as well as you treat your own home? When no one is watching at your job, do you work diligently? God is watching and testing your integrity. You show that you can be trusted with the big things by being faithful in the small things. “His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, and I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. (Matt 25:21 ESV).
We never really own anything during our brief time on earth. God just loans it to us while we’re here. The Bible says, “The world and all that is in it belong to the Lord; the earth and all who live on it are his” (Psalm 24:1 GNT). The first job God gave humans was to manage and take care of God’s “stuff” on earth. This role has never been rescinded. It is a part of our purpose today. Everything we enjoy is to be treated as a trust that God has placed in our hands. Years ago, a couple was allowed to use a beachfront home in Hawaii for a vacation. They were told, “Use it just like it’s yours,” so they did! They swam in the pool, ate the food in the refrigerator, used the bath towels and dishes, and even jumped on the beds in fun! But they knew all along that it wasn’t really theirs, so they took special care of everything. They enjoyed the benefits of using the home without owning it. They were responsible stewards of the gift they had been given. Jesus often referred to life as a trust and told many stories to illustrate our responsibility toward God. In the story of the talents, a businessman evaluates each servant’s responsibility and rewards them accordingly. He says, “His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, and I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. (Matt 25:21 ESV). At the end of your life on earth, you will be evaluated and rewarded according to how well you handled what God entrusted to you. That means everything you do—even simple daily chores—has eternal implications. If you treat everything as a trust, God promises three rewards in eternity. First, you will be given God’s affirmation: He will say, “Good job! Well done!” Next, you will receive a promotion and be given greater responsibility in eternity: “I will put you in charge of many things.” Then you will be honored with a celebration: “Come and share your Master’s happiness.” There will be no greater joy, and it is available to every faithful steward of God’s gifts. “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word” (Psalm 119:9 NIV).
In a culture that is absolutely obsessed with appearance and image, how in the world do you keep it real when so many other people are faking it? They don’t have integrity. They’re scooting by and they’re skimming and they’re cheating. They’re not keeping their promises. How do you keep it real? There’s only one way. You’ve got to care more about God’s approval than the approval of other people. That’s the only way you’ll ever become a person of integrity. If you care about what God thinks, you’re going to do the right thing. But if you care more about what other people think, you’re often going to do the wrong thing. Psalm 119:9 says, “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word” (NIV). The only way you’re going to know what God approves of and what he thinks of you is by reading the Bible. You must stay in God’s Word! If you don’t, you will not have the strength and the stamina to live with integrity. If you don’t have a daily quiet time with God in the Word, if you miss it for even a few days, you notice it—everyone notices it!—because you might start getting cranky. If you don’t stay connected to God through his Word, you might not have the strength to live with integrity. Living with integrity takes spiritual power, because what is right is often unpopular. You’re going to get tired trying to do the right thing and be real and keep the right motives. You need to be equipped and refreshed. You do that by reading and studying the Bible, God’s Word. “For as you know him better, he will give you, through his great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: he even shares his own glory and his own goodness with us!” (2 Peter 1:3 TLB).
The vast majority of people pay no attention to eternity. They’re living for the here and now, which is a waste, because everything that’s “here and now” isn’t going to matter in five minutes, much less 50 years—and certainly not for eternity. If we stretched a rope from California to Tokyo, and that represented all of eternity, your life on Earth would be represented by less than one millimeter. So how do you live in light of eternity? You live for God’s glory, because he’s going to share his glory with you in heaven. The Bible says in 2 Peter 1:3, “For as you know him better, he will give you, through his great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: he even shares his own glory and his own goodness with us!” (TLB). You don’t get to choose what’s going to happen to you the rest of your life. But you do get to choose how you respond. You can face the future as a cynic, as a critic, as a pessimist, or as a doubter. You can face the future expecting the worst and experiencing the worst. You can face your future being ungracious to other people, and you can live for the glory of yourself. Or you can face the future with gratitude, generosity, and graciousness and live for the glory of God. Which one do you think will make you happier? Which one do you think will make you more successful? Which one do you think will bring a smile to God and the reward of heaven? Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (ESV). We were created because God wants a family. He wants to spend eternity with his family. He wants to spend eternity with you and me! Heaven is one of the most important reasons Christians can be joyful—God has given us eternal life, and heaven will be amazing! “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom” (James 3:13 NIV).
Have you noticed how common sense isn’t so common? A lot of smart people are not too wise. They may be educated, but they don’t have wisdom. They may have all kinds of degrees, but they’re a washout with relationships. James 3:13 says that wisdom is a lifestyle: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom” (NIV). Wisdom has nothing to do with your intelligence. It has everything to do with your relationships and your character. It’s not a matter of what you say with your lips but what you live with your life—not a matter of your words but of your works and not so much your diplomas but your disposition. How can you know if you’re wise in the ways you relate to people? The Bible lists the characteristics of wise people in James 3:17: “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (NIV). “Pure” means uncorrupted and authentic. In 1 John 3:3 this word is used to refer to Christ’s character. It means you have integrity. If you’re wise, you’re not going to lie to others, cheat them, manipulate them, or be deceitful. All relationships are built on trust and respect. If you’re not honest, who’s going to trust you? Who’s going to respect you? You must have integrity in your life. “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely” (Proverbs 10:9 NIV). They’re not afraid of being found out because they don’t say one thing to one group and another thing to another group. Someone said, “No one has a good enough memory to be a habitual liar.” Eventually that person is going to slip up. But if you’ve got integrity, you can walk securely and confidently in your relationships because you know you’re not putting people on. Wise people do not compromise their integrity, because they know that having integrity is the only way to maintain healthy relationships. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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