Walk in Integrity

The righteous walk in integrity—
    happy are the children who follow them!
A king who sits on the throne of judgment
    winnows all evil with his eyes."

                                                Prov 20:7-8

My grandchildren are growing up and I am growing old. One word that they have heard from me an awful lot over the years is "integrity." I have admonished them many times to "walk with integrity" and to "speak with integrity." That is to not embellish stories so that the stories fall apart once the details of the story begin to be questioned and to not be creating drama for drama's sake.

I usually do not remind anyone other than my grandchildren to walk and talk with integrity. But, that is not because I don't want to. I simply don't feel that it is my place or that it will do any good. My grandchildren, though, I have major amounts of hope for so I remind them of the way the Lord would have them go so that they might have peaceful and fruitful lives. The "others" usually just get the "eye." My grandchildren also know about the "eye." Many times over the years, when my eldest granddaughter and I have been together, she has asked me, for no apparent reason at all: What?" I will respond, "I didn't say anything." She complains that I looked at her with that "eye." That is usually when I start wondering and questioning what she is up to; what she is planning that she doesn't want me to know about. I do this because I care about her life and her future and not just life in this world; but, in the Kingdom to come.

The righteous are those who are cleansed by the blood of Jesus and because he abides with and in them, they will desire to walk in integrity, to walk in the way of his truth. Happy are the children who follow those who walk in integrity. Happy are the children who follow Jesus.

May God keep you in his truth, talking and walking in integrity.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Do not Steal: Stealing and Semantics

The Seventh Commandment.

Thou shalt not steal.

What does this mean?--Answer.
We should fear and love God that we may not take our neighbor's money or property, nor get them by false ware or dealing, but help him to improve and protect his property and business [that his means are preserved and his condition is improved].
(http://bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php)

Recently, I spoke with a woman who swore that she had never stolen any money. She was quite adamant, in spite of the fact, that she had been convicted of credit card fraud. She could not relate stealing to using someone else's identity to obtain credit cards. Frankly, this conversation was pretty frustrating. It is beyond me how someone can steal something, get caught, go to prison and still deny that they have ever stolen anything. Of course, this person did not claim to be a Christian. But, she does claim to be a "good" person because according to her she has never stolen (paper) money. Semantics! It sort of reminds me of my grandchildren. I use to make the mistake of asking them who they were talking to when they were busy on their cell phones. Their response was usually "no one." Of course, they weren't talking to anyone. They were texting or messaging. Now, I ask, "With whom are you communicating?" That seems to cover most everything they might be doing on their phones. Semantics!

Semantics won't make one less a thief. Either you have stolen from someone or not. It's best to be "Not!" It is also best not to be compounding the sin by lying about it. Confess and live in a way that brings peace and harmony to life with your neighbors. As Christians, we are not only commanded to not take our neighbor's property or money; we are to do all that we can to help our neighbor keep his or her property and even improve it. Whenever we do anything unjustly that would cause our neighbor to lose use or possession of his property we are stealing whether we end up with physical possession of the property or not. All the semantics in the world will not justify our sins. Only the blood of Jesus will justify.

May God help us to help and support our neighbors.

God's Peace - Pr. J

1 Corinthians 14 NIV Good Order

1 Corinthians 14 NIV
"But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way." (vs 40)

Although, it has not happened often, I have had people blurt out a question or a story during the middle of a worship service. The incidents have been rare and they really did not interrupt the service. Seemed a bit odd, but nothing that switched our focus from worshipping.

It appears though that St. Paul had to address too much talking in the church; too many interruptions. There were those who were gifted in speaking in tongues who appear to have been monopolizing the service. There also appears to have been women who were constantly interrupting.

Now there is probably nothing wrong with speaking in tongues during Worship if the service is designed to do that and if everyone is aware of it. However, if there is no one there to interpret so people can hear and understand what God has to say then they are just making noise; noise that switches the focus from God to self. As for asking questions; questions are good. But, often we will find that if we listen long enough and intently enough the question will be answered anyway. If not... you can write it down and ask the pastor or speaker or a friend or your spouse what they meant later.

Paul exhorts us to good order when we gather together to worship God. Worship is not about the individual. It's about God. Whenever we do or say something during worship it should glorify God, not us. Speaking out of turn in any language is distracting. It turns the focus away from God to the individual. That goes not just for talking out of turn; but, for things we would add to or take away from the service. I have actually had people question why we pray the Lord's prayer at every service instead of letting the Holy Spirit guide our prayers. They thought the Lord's Prayer was too rote. Some of you may get that question. Some may not. I frankly didn't understand why anyone who professed to be a Lutheran Christian would even ask the question. Not long ago, I worshipped with a mission congregation. The first words in the sermon reminded us to "not mess with the liturgy." The pastor said that we should not mess with the liturgy because even when the pastor totally messes up the sermon (and we surely can at times when our egos or certain personal agendas take over) the liturgy feeds the people because it is the word of God.

So, for us Lutherans, we (most of us, at least) stick with the liturgy. We stick with good order in the service of God.

God's Peace - Pr. J