Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. (Proverbs 10:9)
It is said of the French Bishop of Geneva Francis de Sales, he lived parallel lives in private and public. When another bishop planned to write a biography about Francis, his goal was to find out if his life in private matched up with his life in public. The bishop went to visit Francis and drilled a hole in the wall so he could spy on him to see if he could find the secret of his holy life. What he learned was virtually nothing – yet it was almost everything. He discovered that Francis was the same in private as in public. His talk matched his walk in both spheres of life. He rose from bed early in the morning, careful not to make any disturbance so as not to awaken his servant. He prayed, answered correspondence and took care of his ordinary tasks in the same gracious manner that he followed when he was in public.
Francis is known for his writings on the topics of spiritual direction and spiritual formation, particularly the Introduction to the Devout Life and the Treatise on the Love of God. His walk and his writings witnessed to his sold-out life, whether in private or in public, for the advancement of the Kingdom and the glory of Christ. In order for this to be the confession of our lives, we must be committed to living parallel lives both publicly and privately. The word for this is INTEGRITY!
To understand integrity biblically, we cannot see life like a pie, cut up into different pieces and disconnected from the whole. We have a slice for our professional life and a slice for our personal life and a slice for our church life and a slice for my compulsions. This kind of life lacks integrity. We are one thing in one area of our lives and something different in another area of life. To avoid this pitfall, we must be committed to living a whole life before the face of God and committed to doing it the same whether someone is watching or not. The Bible says, “The Lord detests those whose hearts are perverse, but he delights in those whose ways are blameless” (Proverbs 11:20).
Remember, inasmuch as the goal is perfection, we will not reach that goal until we cross the Jordan and are received into glory. Until then, we do the best we can with all God has given to us to do it with, knowing we have a God who loves us unconditionally and forgives us completely when we mess it up.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 