INTERNALIZE YOUR INTEGRITY

 

As human beings, we function poorly as split personalities. We function even less well as schizophrenics-split personalities. Consequently, we need to strengthen, renew, and reaffirm our resourcefulness by integrating those decisive areas in our lives. 

Simply stated; internal integrity requires us to be honest with our selves We begin by removing our false faces! Remove the facades; replace those false fronts that prevent us from being what we appear to be--eliminate the ongoing civil wars we have within us! When we do this, we will build our self-esteem considerably. Should we fail to do this, we will continue to struggle within.

God calls us to co-partner with him. He invites us to make him our Senior Partner. God actually invites us to give Him space in our universe and orbit our lives around Him, rather than ourselves. Only when we personally recognize him as "the Source: of all of life and invite him to be THE SENIOR PARTNER in our personal relationship, only then are we ready to trade-in our finite sufficiency for his infinite adequacy.

For years Bart Starr was one of my all-time favorite professional football players. I remember in 1958, Starr and his Green Bay Packer team led by Coach Vince Lombardi, had just experienced a most-bitter defeat. Following that game, Starr sat in the solitude of the Green Bay locker-room thinking to himself “there must be more to life than a game.”

 Someone encouraged Starr and Starr began attending Bible Studies. With help from his tight-end, Carroll Dale, who already enjoyed a popular following within the leadership of the Church of God National Youth Fellowship, star quarterback, Bart Starr, determined to change the set of his sail. The premium NFL Quarterback committed his life to Jesus Christ. Bart Starr learned that “in Christ“ he could live life’s best by personally refusing to accept anything less than the best into his life and with that decision he committed his life to Jesus.

The kind of personal integrity that builds self-respect is the only kind of integrity that protects our personal identity. Nothing builds personal self-respect more than facing one's self honestly, internalizing our integrity, and intentionally placing our hand in the hand of God and allowing Him to hold our hand--us. Putting one's hand in the grip of God gives Him a better grip on our lives and multiplies our limited resources in extraordinary ways. 

Only then is God able to adequately meet our needs. Only then, can God meet the needs of others through us, as He did when He blessed the loaves and fishes and used the disciples to feed the multitude. This kind of living becomes possible only when we take our regular supplements of worship, daily bible study, unceasing prayer, and the sharing of our blessings.

Give God first place in your life

    and internalize your integrity

           and you can enjoy the fullness of life 

                God intended for all of his creation--

                        by divine right of being created in the image of God.