STAYING PRIVATE
Are you blameless? I don’t mean perfect, complete and without sin. I mean is your character innocent, your reputation clean, your integrity visible, your life an example? Is your life as a whole without spot, blemish or flaw? Is there something staying private that, if discovered, could ruin your employment, your marriage, your family, your ministry, your life?
Are there grounds to be convicted of dishonesty, lying, stealing, gossip, unfaithfulness, anger, lust, etc? Not in the “we’ve all done it” sort of way, but in the “I’m unwilling to stop doing it” sort of way.
GOING PUBLIC
If you were to stand in a public forum consisting of both strangers and friends, and were to say to them like the prophet Samuel said to the whole people of Israel, “Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me and I will restore it to you,” what would they say? Here’s how Israel replied to Samuel, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand” (1 Samuel 12:3-4).
Consider also the Apostle Paul, when he said, “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel” (Acts 20:33), or “We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one” (2 Corinthians 7:2), and “Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you?” (2 Corinthians 12:17). Paul is solidly and unapologetically confident when making these public statements that his integrity has kept him and will guard him.
HONEST QUESTIONS
How about you? Are you above reproach? Do your actions reinforce your words? Would your wife and children agree with your secretary and congregation? Would your neighbor vouch for you? Would your employer or employees gladly, willingly, and truthfully give their recommendation and commendation?
Or when asked about your character do people say, “I don’t know” or “you don’t want to know”? Are you afraid of what people will say? Do you have no references left you can count on?
HIGH STANDARDS
How about setting the bar as high as Paul told Timothy to set it, “...set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12)? DO YOU WANT TO BE AN EXAMPLE? DO YOU WANT TO BE AN EXAMPLE IN EVERY AREA OF LIFE?
To be an example requires more than being above reproach. It requires staying above reproach. It’s about those around you testifying to your character day in and day out, without reservation, that you are the same person wherever you are and whatever you do.
Can you go public with your character?
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