I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. 1Chronicles 29:17
How important is it to you to impress other people?
Do you ever find yourself, even if only subconsciously, acting in a certain way, expressing certain opinions, even dressing in a certain style, not because these things represent what you’re really like, but because you hope somebody else will think better of you as a result?
I suspect we all do it, at least from time to time. Certainly, I would have to plead guilty.
Only later do I find myself thinking, Why oh why did I do that! Why should I bother what that person thinks of me? Am I my own person or not? Better still, Am I Christ’s person or not?
The question is, at root, about honesty. But it’s not only about being honest in the sense of being truthful in our words and deeds, but being honest in the very way we are as people, honest through and through. A good word to sum it up is integrity.
Before King David died he made plans for the building of Israel’s first temple, plans which were to be brought to reality by his son Solomon. Right at the end he brought the people together for prayer, and in his prayer he contrasted the greatness of God with the frailty of humankind. He revealed an understanding of God’s holy character with the words: “I know... that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.”
To pretend to be something you’re not is to lack integrity. And it’s a habit we need to root ruthlessly out of our personalities. One thing is for sure: we can’t fool God for a second.
I don’t know if the boy David heard the great words of the prophet Samuel on the day he, David, was anointed as king - “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7) - but it was a truth which he certainly absorbed. Even at his worst moments, perhaps when he had flagrantly disobeyed God, a humble honesty in confessing his sins came to his rescue; it’s a big part of what makes him such an attractive character.
Around the time of Jesus - some 250 BC to 250 AD - there was a school of thinkers who became known as “Stoics”. Their views have a lot in common with what today is called “mindfulness” - taking each moment calmly as it comes, refusing to get too excited by success or too cast down by failure, doing your best to ensure that, as a general rule, your head rules your heart, and not the other way. And a lot of what they say chimes in with Christianity.
A leading Stoic called Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) said this: “Live among men as if God beheld you; speak with God as if men were listening.” Another, Epictetus (50 AD-135 AD), wrote: “If ever you should turn your will to things outside your control in order to impress someone, be sure that you have wrecked your whole purpose in life.”
That’s strongly put! But it is true - for you have ceased to be authentically yourself and have put on a mask which tries to project a false you. Is it too much to say, quite plainly, that you have become a liar?
I said earlier that we can’t fool God. But the fact is that we don’t fool most other people either. They see through us; they aren’t in the least bit impressed by us; on the contrary, they just despise us. And how pathetic, indeed how stupid, is that? As somebody has said, it’s like “buying things we don’t need in order to impress people we don’t like.”
This doesn’t mean that we should just not care what people think of us - no, the Bible tells us that if we are God’s people we should aim to have a good reputation among outsiders (see 1Timothy 3:7). Of course. But a “bad” reputation earned by being scrupulously honest is far better than a “good” reputation earned by living a lie.
To go back to where we started: it’s all about integrity. If you found those quotes from ancient Rome a bit heavy, try this one for size: “Live so that the preacher can tell the truth at your funeral” (K Beckstrom).
I’ve heard it said that the whole of Christian living can be summed up in two simple rules... (1) Be like Christ. And (2) Be yourself.
Not bad for starters, I’d say! - as long, of course, as we get them in the right order...
Heavenly Father, your word tells us that the devil is a liar and the father of lies, but that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. As I seek to follow him, help me to live a life of rock-solid integrity, regardless of what others might think. Amen.
How important is it to you to impress other people?
Do you ever find yourself, even if only subconsciously, acting in a certain way, expressing certain opinions, even dressing in a certain style, not because these things represent what you’re really like, but because you hope somebody else will think better of you as a result?
I suspect we all do it, at least from time to time. Certainly, I would have to plead guilty.
Only later do I find myself thinking, Why oh why did I do that! Why should I bother what that person thinks of me? Am I my own person or not? Better still, Am I Christ’s person or not?
The question is, at root, about honesty. But it’s not only about being honest in the sense of being truthful in our words and deeds, but being honest in the very way we are as people, honest through and through. A good word to sum it up is integrity.
Before King David died he made plans for the building of Israel’s first temple, plans which were to be brought to reality by his son Solomon. Right at the end he brought the people together for prayer, and in his prayer he contrasted the greatness of God with the frailty of humankind. He revealed an understanding of God’s holy character with the words: “I know... that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.”
To pretend to be something you’re not is to lack integrity. And it’s a habit we need to root ruthlessly out of our personalities. One thing is for sure: we can’t fool God for a second.
I don’t know if the boy David heard the great words of the prophet Samuel on the day he, David, was anointed as king - “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7) - but it was a truth which he certainly absorbed. Even at his worst moments, perhaps when he had flagrantly disobeyed God, a humble honesty in confessing his sins came to his rescue; it’s a big part of what makes him such an attractive character.
Around the time of Jesus - some 250 BC to 250 AD - there was a school of thinkers who became known as “Stoics”. Their views have a lot in common with what today is called “mindfulness” - taking each moment calmly as it comes, refusing to get too excited by success or too cast down by failure, doing your best to ensure that, as a general rule, your head rules your heart, and not the other way. And a lot of what they say chimes in with Christianity.
A leading Stoic called Seneca (4 BC-65 AD) said this: “Live among men as if God beheld you; speak with God as if men were listening.” Another, Epictetus (50 AD-135 AD), wrote: “If ever you should turn your will to things outside your control in order to impress someone, be sure that you have wrecked your whole purpose in life.”
That’s strongly put! But it is true - for you have ceased to be authentically yourself and have put on a mask which tries to project a false you. Is it too much to say, quite plainly, that you have become a liar?
I said earlier that we can’t fool God. But the fact is that we don’t fool most other people either. They see through us; they aren’t in the least bit impressed by us; on the contrary, they just despise us. And how pathetic, indeed how stupid, is that? As somebody has said, it’s like “buying things we don’t need in order to impress people we don’t like.”
This doesn’t mean that we should just not care what people think of us - no, the Bible tells us that if we are God’s people we should aim to have a good reputation among outsiders (see 1Timothy 3:7). Of course. But a “bad” reputation earned by being scrupulously honest is far better than a “good” reputation earned by living a lie.
To go back to where we started: it’s all about integrity. If you found those quotes from ancient Rome a bit heavy, try this one for size: “Live so that the preacher can tell the truth at your funeral” (K Beckstrom).
I’ve heard it said that the whole of Christian living can be summed up in two simple rules... (1) Be like Christ. And (2) Be yourself.
Not bad for starters, I’d say! - as long, of course, as we get them in the right order...
Heavenly Father, your word tells us that the devil is a liar and the father of lies, but that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. As I seek to follow him, help me to live a life of rock-solid integrity, regardless of what others might think. Amen.
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