MEDALS OF FAITH: Living in a way that adds luster to the Gospel (Part 3)

Honesty and Integrity

Here's a confession for you:

Before I began following Christ in my teens, I lied.

I lied not just once, but repeatedly.

In fact, lying was for me a pattern, a way of life.

I lied to authorities; I lied to teachers; I lied to my parents; I lied to schoolmates. I did it in order to get and to do whatever I wanted. The operating premise of my life was that "the end justifies the means."

When I realized my need to turn from my sins and place my faith in Christ, however, an acute awareness that the lying had to stop came with it. For one thing, Jesus said, "I am...the truth" (John 14:6).

The Bible says, "God is not a man, the He should lie" (Numbers 23:19).

The Apostle John wrote, "And this is the message we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as he Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one anther and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:5-7).

So...bottom line, I had to quit lying. Or to be more accurate, I had to let the Holy Spirit who had come to dwell in me transform me and make me a person of truth, like my Savior and Lord. Over time, He did so, and the operating premise of my life became "the end (living for God's pleasure and glory) controls -- rather than justifying -- the means."

As we saw in our previous focus on "transformed priorities," this was the realization to which Zacchaus came. When he did so, he both quit cheating people and he also made restitution to them. That's something the Holy Spirit convicted me that I needed to do as well.

How did you do that, you ask?

Well, simply put, one person at a time, as the Holy Spirit brought them to mind and in whatever way seemed appropriate. I remember, for example, going to my employer, a kindly filling station operator, and telling him that I had stolen money and merchandise. I paid him back and asked him to forgive me, which he most graciously did.

In the process, I began to experience the blessed freedom of coming out of the shadows and walking in the light, a feeling of cleanness and soundness that I had never really known. In fact, what I was experiencing was the approval of my heavenly Father as I sought to do what was right in His sight. Over the decades since, His approval of my motives and conduct has become the "magnetic north" that I seek to walk by moment by moment, situation by situation, day by day.

Do I always get it right? Absolutely not. Sometimes I dismay myself greatly by how I fail. But in those moments, I find consolation and help in John's words that follow the verses already quoted:

"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 1:8-2:1).

I'm going to stop for now, in part because blogs seem to work better without long blocks of text. But I'm thinking maybe you can identify with this confession and, in following Christ yourself, have had to come to terms with the importance of this "medal of faith" that adds luster to the Gospel in our lives. If so, I'd love to hear about it.

Stay sharp,

Preston