“What does integrity mean?”

We were 2 young men at a college and career retreat and the speaker had mentioned integrity.  We really didn’t know what it meant.  We were both in university, we weren’t stupid, we just didn’t know what integrity really was.  So, we tracked the guest speaker down after the session and asked him to help us understand what integrity was.

His answer really surprised us.

“It’s kind of like bologna.  You know, those big loaves of bologna?  No matter where you slice it, or how you slice it, you always get the same thing.”, was his reply.

What does that mean??

We chewed through our thoughts for a while and came up with an understanding of what we thought he meant.  Integrity is a consistent high moral standard of behavior.  A man of integrity consistently lives by a high moral standard.  No matter where, no matter when, it’s the same high standard of behavior.

I witnessed great integrity recently – in a very unique circumstance.

My brother, his wife and I were having dinner on their deck.  A small bird flew into the second story window.  Stunned by the impact it fluttered down to the ground beside the table.  Not dead, but not totally alive, it lay on the ground gasping for breath.

My brother is a pastor.  In fact, he’s been pastoring the same church for close to 40 years.    He has dedicated his life to caring for people.  He’s been doing so for decades.  No matter where he is, no matter what he’s doing, he cares for people.

I have watched him for the vast majority of my life reaching out to people with God’s love.  He encourages, he exhorts, he teaches, he serves, he preaches, he prays for people, he leads them to Christ, whatever way he can minister to people he does.

So what I watched next in the life of that little bird was no surprise.  He got out of his chair, he walked over to the bird and he prayed for its recovery.  Gently stroking that bird’s head he prayed for its healing in Jesus’ name.

But he didn’t stop there.  He made a little bed for it out of a small cardboard box which he lined with Kleenex and napkins.  He gently placed the bird in the box and put a little napkin over it for safe keeping.  He put the box within eyesight, but far enough away not to scare or intimidate the bird.

And sure enough, that little bird recovered and flew away just after we had finished dessert.

That little scenario was a great illustration of the heart of my brother.  As I watched this scene unfold I realized my brother cared for that bird in a similar way he has treated people for years.

That’s integrity.

This was also a great demonstration of the heart of our Father.   Jesus told us that God takes care of the birds of the air.  How much more will He care for us?

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”  Matthew 6:26

“Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!”  Luke 12:24

God created the birds.  He cares for the birds.  God feeds the birds.  The birds are not too small for God to care for.  How much more will God take care of us?

Watching my brother care for that bird caused me to ask a few questions of myself.  I don’t think I would have done what my brother did.  In fact, I urged Ron not to touch it and contaminate it with his scent.  Lame, really lame Dave.

My brother went the extra mile.  His integrity spoke loud and clear.

That’s the kind of man I trust we want to be.  No matter where, no matter when, no matter which way you slice us, may we be men of integrity – consistently living by a high moral standard.

Just like bologna.

1 Corinthians 15:58

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

Psalm 78:72

“And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.”

Proverbs 11:3

“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”

Both of our sons are in a really exciting season of their lives – the beginning of their careers.

Do you remember that season of your life?  Were you excited and terrified at the same time?  Were you full of hopes and dreams for what the future would hold?

They’re full of big desires and big plans.  In light of that they’re excited and scared at the same time.  They’re exhilarated and terrified – they’re exhilified.  Their desires are big on all fronts.  And they’re making big plans based on those desires.

They’re causing me to think back to when I was their age.  Anything seemed possible.  The sky was the limit.  I had lots of desires I wanted to see come to fruition.  I had lots of desires that I was making plans for in order to bring them into reality.

Some of my desires were God-breathed, and some of them weren’t.  God knew that.  In His great mercy and grace God helped me to see where my desires were not in alignment with His.

In addition, some of my plans were not necessarily His.  Once again, He graciously directed me and even thwarted my plans that were not His plans.  And sometimes, because of my stubbornness and arrogance, He crushed my plans in order to draw me closer to Him in humble surrender so that my desires and plans would come into alignment with God’s best for me.

Desires and plans can get you in trouble.  And, desires and plans can get you into God’s will.

I don’t know about you, but when I was in my 20’s and 30’s I had lots of desires and plans.  However, it was during these years the Lord began purifying my desires.  He was also thwarting some of my plans that were not His.  The more this happened, the more cautious I became about looking at the desires in my heart and making plans accordingly.

Following this time of “purifying” it would have been easy to simply shut down my heart and not dare to desire anything more, to simply settle for what was – “This is all I can hope for.”  Desire could easily flame out, and plans become non-existent.  It would be easy to cave into the monotony of life, surrender desire and begin living a resigned life.

If we do not discover the delight of God by pressing through our issues that keep us at a distance from God, we can easily, as Thoreau said, “Live lives of quiet desperation.”  Discovering the heart of God catapults us into a new realm of desire and plans – that of the desires of God and partnering with Him in His plans for us and for others through us.

In addition, as we age over the years and accomplish plans and fulfill desires we can end up having less and less desires and plans, and therefore, we age prematurely.  I believe desires and plans can keep us young and vibrant.

Psalm 20:4 caught my attention recently.  Well, actually, it stopped me cold right in the middle of my morning time with God.

“May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.”

I sat there reading it over and over.  I began musing with the Lord, what desires do I have?  And, what corresponding plans do I have?  Are my desires reflective of God’s desires? Are my plans in sync with His?

C.S. Lewis said, “Our problem is not that we desire too much, but that we desire too little.”

I’m feeling the nudging of the Lord to take a look at my desires.  Am I desiring too little?  Do my desires reflect the heart of God, or do they reflect the values of this world?  Do my plans reflect the vision God has given me and the desires He has put in my heart, or do they reflect the things of this world?

What about you?  Do you have desires and plans?  Do you desire too little?

Ask the Lord about the desires He’s put in your heart, and the plans He has for you – I’ll bet they’re bigger than you think!

Psalm 37:4

“Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Proverbs 16:9

“The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”

Psalm 73:25

“Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.”

Jeremiah 29:11

“’For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.’”

“What do you eat for breakfast?” I asked.

“I eat the same thing every day.” he replied.

My colleague had just presented me with a copy of his new book on health and nutrition.  In light of this I thought it was time for me to defer to his expertise.

I confessed to him my neglect in the ingestion department.  I tended to eat for taste and not for fuel.  I didn’t feed my body well.  I often didn’t eat breakfast; I would eat sporadically throughout the day; eat something sweet in the afternoon to give me some energy; eat a good dinner because of my wife’s faithful care; then eat some tasty snack in the evening.

I now sat across the table from my friend 20 pounds overweight.  I needed help.

“So what do you eat for breakfast?” I inquired.

“My special shake: 2.5 cups water, 1 banana, ½ cup berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries), 1 tablespoon each of oat bran, wheat bran, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, ¼ tablespoon of matcha and 1 scoop of whey isolate protein powder.” He responded.

That shake, combined with eating less junk, and 30 minutes of mountainside walking 3 times a week, took 20 pounds off me and has kept it off for 2 years.

Our physical health is the result of 4 main components:  what we eat, what we drink, how we rest, and how we move.  Sure there are many other factors, but these are 4 key elements.

So what about our spiritual health?

Recently I embarked upon an intentional truth diet with my wife.  We’re committing to memorize and meditate on weekly scriptural truths in an effort to increase our spiritual health.  We’re focusing on truth related to God’s love and our identity as beloved children of God.

Reading Truth is good.  Memorizing Truth is powerful.  And meditating on Truth is profoundly transformational.

To meditate on Truth is to commit it to memory, and then chew over every word, every morsel of the passage.  Meditating is an intentional extraction of the meaning the Spirit reveals.  Meditating is a commitment to seek God’s revelation for all the depth of Truth the passage contains.

It’s a commitment to suck the marrow out of the Word.

This week we’re on Psalm 139:13, 14:

I am chewing each section of this over and over… “For you created my inmost being”; “You knit me together in my mother’s womb”; “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made”; “Your works are wonderful”; “I know this full well”.

How can you hate yourself if you understand the Truth of this verse?  If God says we’re wonderful, if He formed us in our mother’s womb, then who are we to say we’re a piece of junk?  God doesn’t make junk!

You are wonderful!

We’ve just started this diet of Truth but have enjoyed rich meals the 2 previous weeks:

Jeremiah 31:3

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”

Zephaniah 3:17

“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

We have the following meal plan laid out over the next 6 weeks:

Romans 8:14, 15

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”

Galatians 4:6, 7

“Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”

1 John 3:1

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

John 15:9-11

 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

Philippians 1:6

“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:38, 39

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Join us – feast on Truth and live!

How would you describe King David?

When I think of David I think of a mighty warrior and a courageous king.  I also think of a prolific poet and an open-hearted songwriter.  David has always struck me as being a man who could catch a lightning bolt in one hand and a tear in the other.

He was also a broken man who understood the grace and mercy of God.  He is also a shining example of a man who could have disqualified himself from the purposes of God because of his sin, but he chose instead to live a life of repentance.  He knew when to surrender and submit to the Lord and His correction.

David knew when to stand up and fight, and when to lay down.

I think we’re familiar with how God described him, ‘A man after God’s own heart.’  Wow.  How did David become a man after God’s heart?  How did he cultivate a relationship of that kind of intimacy with God?

I think I stumbled upon the answer to that question in Psalm 109.  David begins the psalm by asking the Lord to intervene on his behalf in the lives of those who hate David, speak and lie against him, attack and accuse him.  He’s clearly in a difficult situation.  In the middle of pointing out to the Lord the damage all the wicked and deceitful me in his life are causing, he states this:

“But I am a man of prayer.”

If leapt off the page at me.

I don’t know if I would have described David as a man of prayer…

What does that mean?

Well, I would describe prayer as ‘conversing’ with God.  Sometimes we speak, sometimes we listen – like any good conversation.  Good conversation is giving and receiving in an open-hearted exchange.

I believe David lived a life of ongoing interaction with God.  He knew when to talk and he knew when to listen.  He knew when to be still and quiet before the Lord.  He knew when to confess his sin.  He knew when to declare the Truth of who God is.  He knew when to simply open up his heart in raw honesty before God.

He knew the power of praise and worship.  He knew the greatness of gratitude and thanksgiving.

I believe David understood 3 foundational elements of conversing with God:

1. Talking
2. Listening
3. Obeying

Listening to God doesn’t make much of a difference if we don’t obey what He is calling us to do does it?

How we pray really matters.  What kind of conversations do we have with God?  Are they primarily comprised of whining and complaining?  Are our prayers self-centered and filled with self-pity?

Are we praying God’s will, or our will?  Are we praying in arrogance, or humility?  Are we praying in alignment with the Truth of scripture, or the lies of the enemy?

Our prayers are powerful when we pray in accordance with scripture; when we pray for God’s will to be done and His kingdom to come in us and through us on earth as it is in Heaven.  David prayed the Lord would create in him a pure heart and renew a steadfast spirit in him; that he would have Truth and wisdom in his inmost parts.

Scripture encourages us to pray continually – which seems impossible.  However, I would not doubt that David spoke with the Lord as a constant companion.  When he was alone, he knew he wasn’t alone.

When you’re driving alone, or working, or walking, or relaxing, or ‘playing’, do you converse with God?  Do you also set aside times alone with God for the specific purpose of conversing with Him?  I think this is what a man of prayer does.

I believe a man of prayer turns to God first and gives God the final word.  I believe a man of prayer talks to, listens to and obeys God.  I believe a man of prayer is honest and open-hearted before God, and chooses to stand on and pray into the Truth of God.

I also believe you and I can choose to be men of prayer – like David.

Psalm 109:4

“In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.”

Psalm 100:4

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”

James 5:16

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

1 Thessalonians 5:17

^“ pray continually,”

Ephesians 6:18

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”