I Will Show You

How long do you keep your Christmas tree up? I just took down our Christmas tree a few days ago. It’s not normal for me to leave my tree up for three months. But our sudden trip out of the country changed everything. I returned to Belize this past Saturday. Coming back to my house after it being closed up for such a long time felt like entering a Holiday time capsule. Here, I will show you:

I had such big plans for Christmas this year, I was working on a new devotional for YouVersion (you can see my current ones here), and I had planned a few special gifts for the older ladies at our church. But those things fell to the side.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to share about our sudden departure from Belize. It was a simple message, but it wasn’t easy to deliver. I spoke about integrity. Jesus wants our words and actions to match. He wants our words to have meaning. And for our words to have meaning we must back them up with our behavior.

Luke 6:46-47 says, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them.”

I Will Show You

He doesn’t expect us to figure it out on our own. He says “I will show you.”

Come.

Hear.

Act.

All three words are active.

Jesus goes on to describe the person who call Him Lord, Lord.

“He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn’t shake it, because it was well built.” Luke 6:48

Digging deep

Integrity requires us to dig deep and:

• Align our actions with our beliefs.
• Make choices that reflect our values.
• Strive to be truthful and honest.

Integrity builds a strong foundation for our lives, just like the house built on rock in the parable. 

There are benefits to living with integrity, such as a stronger relationship with God and others, increased trust in Him, and a sense of peace and fulfillment. Yet, I know from personal experience that living with integrity can be challenging. We all face situations that tempt us to compromise our values. But if we dig deep, we can hold onto the standards God has set for us. And God will be there for us when we call out to Him.

In Psalms 145:18 the psalmist said  “The Lord is near all who call out to him, all who call out to him with integrity.”

I ended by asking our Belizean church to pray for Tom and I as we live out the challenge to make our words and actions match. Our desire is to live with integrity. We promised Tom’s father we would be there to care for Mom. When we arrived she told us that she hadn’t seen Christians like that before. People make promises but don’t always follow through. Sometimes God’s calling on our lives is simply to follow through and live with integrity. Like ours, the call on your life might be simple, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy. My prayers are with you, dear one, and I hope you’re praying for me!