Integrity is not simply the password we use to gain access to ministry positions, it is the watchword of our lives. No minister ever sets out to be inconsistent in word or action. When erosion is slow, foundations crumble without notice. Thankfully, there are a few warning signs of eroding integrity:
Increasing Procrastination
The upkeep of integrity is easier when we keep up on our work. Procrastination decays our ministries. If we find ourselves putting off the Bible, prayer, or planning, then we will reap what we sow. Procrastination delays the planting of spiritual seeds. When harvest time arrives, reaping is sparse.
Don’t put off your relationship with God until the evening. As soon as you are able, spend time in God’s Word. When an event goes on the calendar, make a plan with steps to complete the project. When a parishioner asks for prayer, stop and pray for them. Remember, procrastination antagonizes commitments to honesty. Don’t be tempted to lie just because the sun came up on the due date.
Diminishing Honesty
In the 21st century the belt of truth from Ephesians 6 is less like the humble foundation on which all armor of God hangs and more like batman’s utility belt. We see truth not as the foundation of our integrity, but as an opportunity for something flashy and exciting—a truth bomb. We want to give people a dramatic truth they can retweet. One of John Wesley’s famous Holy Club questions was, “Am I honest in all of my words and actions, or do I exaggerate?”
Social media provides us ministers the perfect place to exaggerate. Everything from baptismal numbers to great events are all prone to exaggeration. However, integrity requires us to have a greater commitment to honesty than to exaggeration. The cynosure of truth is not in the size of its championship buckle, but in its modest ability to uphold the breastplate of righteousness in its proper place.
The Wandering Eye
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness” Matthew 6:22–24. We teach children to sing, “be careful little eyes what you see.” We ought to remember this song in our private times.
Let’s ask ourselves a sincere and honest question: are our eyes healthy? Pornography isn’t the only taint threatening our integrity. Few parishioners will ever know what we decide to watch on Netflix. If our eyes gape at boarders of the darkness, then they are not gazing at the light. Let us transfix our eyes upon Jesus, then our whole body will be healthy.
It is possible for us to fake our way through spirituality. We can make up fake Bible study times, false claims of hard work, or even fake a sermon. Please understand, small lapses in integrity follow us through our entire ministry and root themselves in our personal lives. Do not attempt to justify lapses in personal integrity. We won’t be any less busy, less tired, or less stressed in the coming days. If we excuse our integrity for busy days, it won’t show up on the hard ones. The Christ we serve is holy. Let his holiness reflect in all we do.
Pastor Summerville First Baptist, married to Danielle, father of five, PhD student @SWBTS, MDiv SWBTS 2012, BA Theatre OSU