THE IMPACT OF INTEGRITY

 JUST THINKING

Integrity is the first skill one should have. Being a singer, dancer, sales man and so on are skills but if you don't have the first basic skill in integrity, then other skills will be questionable. As a Christian, if you believe you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and you fall short in the area of integrity, then your righteousness is in doubt. Integrity is one of the major fruits of righteousness.

May God help us because integrity is a word that is very wide and well misunderstood? There are many areas and sides of integrity. You may have integrity with money but you may not have it with your words. You may have integrity in church but don't have it at home. So, let the righteousness through God's spirit expose your heart to the word "integrity", the areas you have integrity and the areas you fall short of it.
PROVERBS 20:7 AMP Says:
"The righteous man who walks in integrity and lives life in accord with his [godly] beliefs-- How blessed [happy and spiritually secure] are his children after him [who have his example to follow]."
Proverbs 20:7 NKJV says:
"The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him".

According to the scripture above, your integrity lives after you and it affects your children positively or negatively. I have heard of some people whose children are enjoying the seeds or enjoying favour from people they know and they do not know because of what their parents did. But I have also heard stories of people who are paying dearly because of the bad seeds their parents sowed. Their parents sowed seeds of fraud, lies, hate, unfaithfulness, embezzlement and so on, and their children are still being looked upon with those same eyes or are being treated badly as though they were the ones who committed the offence.

You should be careful with what you do and how you live your life because someone or some people may regret or rejoice being your child(ren) in the future. No pressure is big or tempting enough for you to steal in the office or tell lies because if you give in to it, it may affect your children in the future.

LOOKS COULD BE DECEIVING

JUST THINKING:

If one is more concerned about his appearance or looks than the state of his heart or inner man, it is a sign that he is gradually missing the mark. Men see the appearance, looks and your fashion statement but God sees and looks at the heart. Looking good is good but if you look good and your heart is dirty, then you are really dirty because your looks do not define you but the state of your heart does. Mind you, do not judge someone based on their appearance. Looks can be deceiving.

Matthew 23: 25-26 says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also”.

When you are clean on the inside, it will definitely reflect on the outside like in your dressing, your looks, the way you speak, the words you say, the friends you keep, the places you go to and so on. Also, when the inside is clean (a man’s hearts), his ways, attitude, reasoning, conversation, and mindset will automatically change. Habits will change and the wrong lifestyle you have acquired over the years will be de-acquired when you are transformed on the inside of you. If you want to change anyone or if you want to a change in your life and become a better person, it can only be done from within you. Anyone who is changed in his heart, lives from inside out and not by his feelings.

You can only experience this transformation by fellowshiping with the light (Jesus), God’s word, the Holy Spirit, through worship, in prayer and so on. The more you fellowship, the more your heart will be changed and old habits will start dropping gradually. The light exposes the hidden things, habits, wrong mindsets, and ways that are in-congruent with one’s life, nature and purpose. Don’t bother how the habits will be dropped or changed. Just fellowship with the light and in no time, you will discover that you no longer have desires, hunger and longings for those things you once had and that you no longer do the things you once did.