From Whom are You Learning?
As a child, I loved to hang out with adults just listening to their fascinating conversations. Sometimes I’d be in their presence and other times clandestinely lurking around the corner in the hallway. I remember a man visiting our house with a hook for a hand. He owned a fish store in Rhode Island and my mom and her boyfriend became friends with him. While sitting on the porch on that beautiful July day, my mom’s boyfriend told his guest that he had just turned 40. But I knew better. Obviously, he had forgotten how old he was, so I thought I’d clear up any misunderstanding and blurted out, “no you’re not! You’re 50!” He casually walked over to me and said, in no uncertain terms, to keep my mouth shut.
FATHER-FIGURE
He was my father-figure at the time. And he taught me some important life lessons, like, “you should never hit a girl, including your sister, righty-tighty, lefty-loosey, and everything I ever wanted to know about cutting down trees, stacking wood, and making brush piles. He taught me what it means to be a hard worker. But his alcoholism, divorce, and disbarment from practicing law brought him down a dark path. He ended up leaving my mother and finding greener pastures, I guess. But I learned a lot from that man. I had to learn from someone. Michael Lawson once wrote, “We are meant to be learners, for it is written into our createdness. We learn from the example of others. But the real question is, from whom are you learning.”
INTEGRITY
The Apostle Paul was a great teacher. He taught in synagogues, in the marketplace, among the self-righteous and the humble. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he penned or dictated 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament. As he approached the later years of his ministry, he reflected upon his ministry to the Ephesians saying, “Ye knew, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons (Acts 20:19).” From the very first day the Ephesians met Paul, he lived a life of consistent integrity.
FROM THE FIRST DAY
First impressions carry a lot of weight in our minds. Whenever I walk into Market Basket in Leominster, I know immediately if a certain bagger is on duty. He’s a broad-shouldered, jovial black guy with a booming voice and a superb sense of humor. He’s always joking with the customers. Once, with his baldness, he rubbed the top of his head, smiled, and told the white bald customer in line, “hey, we could be brothers.” My first impression was that this guy is a riot. I later learned that he’s also a Marine veteran. I was impressed.
CLEAN UNDERWEAR
When we think of first impressions, we often think about what we wear. I can hear my mother now saying, “always wear clean underwear in case you have to go to the hospital.” There is probably some truth to that. Perhaps that’s why I don’t like popping into Big Y in Holden wearing the same clothes I wore to clean out the chicken coop. As a pastor, I should look more presentable.
AT ALL SEASONS
But Paul wasn’t talking about his garments. He was telling the pastors and deacons at Ephesus that his behavior was the same “at all seasons.” When things were going smoothly, when there was friction, when he couldn’t find his tent-making needle, and when the thorn in his flesh was troubling him. He was a person of integrity.
We are a fickle people. We’re often susceptible to our feelings, emotions, fears, and worries. But while we may experience those emotions from time to time, we know, deep down, that no matter what trials may cross our paths, our reverence toward God cannot be snuffed out.
ACCOUNTABLILITY
While it’s helpful to have someone like Paul, a regenerated father, mother, or grandparent to look to as an example of what it means to be a Christian with integrity, God holds us accountable for our own actions. Yes, He knows some of us have come out of depraved situations. And He knows all his children fall short of perfect Christlikeness. Before he was saved, even Paul himself was a persecutor of Christians. But after his life-changing encounter with Christ on the road to Damascas, he became a man of integrity. His life was lived with a good testimony “in all seasons.”
WATCHING YOU
Perhaps there are young eyes watching us, our words, our actions. “Be careful how you live,” writes William J. Toms. “You may be the only Bible some person ever reads.” The only way to live a life of integrity is to recognize we’re utter failures before God and that He has given us undeserved mercy. He is everything and we are nothing. To be a believer with integrity means to have absolute confidence in God and His Word. Learn from, live, and teach God’s Word.
FATHER-FIGURE
He was my father-figure at the time. And he taught me some important life lessons, like, “you should never hit a girl, including your sister, righty-tighty, lefty-loosey, and everything I ever wanted to know about cutting down trees, stacking wood, and making brush piles. He taught me what it means to be a hard worker. But his alcoholism, divorce, and disbarment from practicing law brought him down a dark path. He ended up leaving my mother and finding greener pastures, I guess. But I learned a lot from that man. I had to learn from someone. Michael Lawson once wrote, “We are meant to be learners, for it is written into our createdness. We learn from the example of others. But the real question is, from whom are you learning.”
INTEGRITY
The Apostle Paul was a great teacher. He taught in synagogues, in the marketplace, among the self-righteous and the humble. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he penned or dictated 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament. As he approached the later years of his ministry, he reflected upon his ministry to the Ephesians saying, “Ye knew, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons (Acts 20:19).” From the very first day the Ephesians met Paul, he lived a life of consistent integrity.
FROM THE FIRST DAY
First impressions carry a lot of weight in our minds. Whenever I walk into Market Basket in Leominster, I know immediately if a certain bagger is on duty. He’s a broad-shouldered, jovial black guy with a booming voice and a superb sense of humor. He’s always joking with the customers. Once, with his baldness, he rubbed the top of his head, smiled, and told the white bald customer in line, “hey, we could be brothers.” My first impression was that this guy is a riot. I later learned that he’s also a Marine veteran. I was impressed.
CLEAN UNDERWEAR
When we think of first impressions, we often think about what we wear. I can hear my mother now saying, “always wear clean underwear in case you have to go to the hospital.” There is probably some truth to that. Perhaps that’s why I don’t like popping into Big Y in Holden wearing the same clothes I wore to clean out the chicken coop. As a pastor, I should look more presentable.
AT ALL SEASONS
But Paul wasn’t talking about his garments. He was telling the pastors and deacons at Ephesus that his behavior was the same “at all seasons.” When things were going smoothly, when there was friction, when he couldn’t find his tent-making needle, and when the thorn in his flesh was troubling him. He was a person of integrity.
We are a fickle people. We’re often susceptible to our feelings, emotions, fears, and worries. But while we may experience those emotions from time to time, we know, deep down, that no matter what trials may cross our paths, our reverence toward God cannot be snuffed out.
ACCOUNTABLILITY
While it’s helpful to have someone like Paul, a regenerated father, mother, or grandparent to look to as an example of what it means to be a Christian with integrity, God holds us accountable for our own actions. Yes, He knows some of us have come out of depraved situations. And He knows all his children fall short of perfect Christlikeness. Before he was saved, even Paul himself was a persecutor of Christians. But after his life-changing encounter with Christ on the road to Damascas, he became a man of integrity. His life was lived with a good testimony “in all seasons.”
WATCHING YOU
Perhaps there are young eyes watching us, our words, our actions. “Be careful how you live,” writes William J. Toms. “You may be the only Bible some person ever reads.” The only way to live a life of integrity is to recognize we’re utter failures before God and that He has given us undeserved mercy. He is everything and we are nothing. To be a believer with integrity means to have absolute confidence in God and His Word. Learn from, live, and teach God’s Word.