Integrity

Things should just line up. Everything should fit.

"In your teaching show integrity." (Titus 2:7)

Paul isn't talking about a lecture from a pulpit here. The teaching comes in the context of a relational discussion. It's mentoring, discipling, and any other term that's been used by churches to describe what's supposed to happen between an older, wiser person and a young fool. All my life I've played the role of the young fool.

Integrity is important all the time. But it's even harder to hide the inconsistencies when everyone is close enough to see what's in each other's closet. It's a whole lot easier for me to keep people at a distance when your only contact with me is Sunday morning and I have a pulpit between us.

But when you're in my home. And, I'm in yours. And we play golf together. We eat breakfast together. Have lunch together. And our wives talk from time to time you're going to find out pretty soon whether or not what I say to you to do, I really do myself, too.

My life needs to line up with what I say we should all be doing. Otherwise, who would listen?

Would I want a church full of people like me? Would you? Would you want a church where everyone gives as much as you do into the offering plate? Would we be rolling in dough or flat broke? Would you want a church where everyone volunteered as many hours as you do? Would anything get done? Would everyone burn out? Or, would everyone be serving a manageable amount of time?

Would I want a church full of people as faithful as I am? Hmmm...

Of course, the answer is I want the people around me to be giving more, serving more and more faithful. But, then you'd need a different pastor. You don't want a pastor trailing behind everyone. You also don't want an elder trailing behind either.

Leaders lead. By definition leaders do a little more than everybody else. And it all has to line up.