Who's God gonna tell?

So, this past week, my worship team did a fast. We do this from time to time. It IS an act of obedience that we're called to, as followers of Christ. For more info on that click here! But, back to the story... One of my worship leaders was telling me this morning about how she chose to fast from red meat. She and her family went out for dinner that night and she ordered a salad. The menu said it had bacon bits in it, so she began to think through the process: "Bacon is pork. But I guess you could kinda consider it red meat... is it red meat or white meat?.... never mind! I'll just not have the bacon bits and eliminate the doubt altogether!" Now, you need to understand that on this worship team, we take fasts very seriously. If you agree to fast and then break it, we consider it an offense against the whole team, as well as God. So if you cheat, and someone finds out, you may be asked to take some time off from the team. So.... like I said, we're VERY serious about it. So with that in mind.......

In the middle of her conversation with herself, her daughter (who is adorable and I think 8 yrs old) says, "Who cares? Who's gonna know?" She smiled and said, "Well, God will know, honey." So her daughter gives her this "you are so weird" look and says, "Who cares? Who's God gonna tell?"

We laughed, heartily, about their conversation, because.... well, it's funny! I love the logic that little kids have. My son cracks me up daily with some of the things he thinks about, and his rationalization through them. But it got me to thinking about something. Integrity.

Integrity is word that we throw around a lot and dismiss its meaning. And we often rationalize things by saying, well who's gonna know. The answer is God. God knows. And if you subscribe to the beliefs of the bible (which you should... just sayin!) and are a follower of Jesus, then you are called to live a life of integrity. Who's God gonna tell? No one. Because God answers to no one. But the flip side of that is this: we may think we answer to our peers and friends and coworkers, but we don't. Ultimately, we answer to God. He is the only authority that holds any implications for our lives currently, and our eternities. And while He may not "tell" anyone of our misgivings, He will judge us for them. The bible tells us so, and is explicitly clear about that. And though you may be found in Christ, and have all of your sins wiped away, remember this: Christ died a physical, painful, humiliating death to atone for those sins. Do you think He did that so we could live a life NOT of integrity? And listen, I'm not writing this cause I've got it mastered. I'm as broken and messed up as you are. I need to hear this, too. But I'm committed to seeking His righteousness, and not my own faults and desires. That's the only way any of us can overcome our sinful, wicked desires.

So the next time you ask yourself, "who's gonna know?" Remember who it is that DOES know, and what He has done for you. Maybe then the word integrity will have a bigger impact on your thought process.

-robbie