Hi Gateway family
I hope you have all had a good start to the week.
Yesterday I spent some time exploring what integrity really means for us, a people who have been called to live a life of Holiness – ‘Be Holy because I, the Lord your God am Holy’ – I reflected on the heart of God, one whose heart is complete and whole and importantly unsegmented. I am who I am.
You know the world is, in many respects, set up to measure us. I think back to my commercial life where measurement was based on a 12-month numerical performance and I often wonder how that pressure to perform, to ‘measure up’, to please people, leads to a lack of integrity.
I realise that yesterday’s message didn’t specifically give key actions for us to consider. So here are some thoughts, some of which I have borrowed from a post by Carey Nieuwhof.
DECIDE TO HONOUR GOD NOT PLEASE PEOPLE
John 12:43 warns us ‘for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God’
BE RUTHLESSLY HONEST WITH YOURSELF
I quoted Matthew 23:25 ……………first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish that the outside of them may be clean also.
DEDICATE TIME TO PERSONAL GROWTH
It says that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favour of God and man. There was dedication to all aspects of his life ……… spiritual, physical, relationships.
SEEK WISE COUNSEL
Proverbs 11:14 says where there is no guidance a people fall, but in the abundance of counsellors there is safety.
As we seek to be ‘Ruthlessly Honest with ourselves’ sometimes we need others, trusted confidents, to be ruthlessly honest with us.
So, as we all step into our week and as we ‘spin plates’ let’s think about how we can live an unsegmented life, where God’s heart infiltrates our own in every aspect.
And that...is Sunday Lunch!
Mike Frew
