sin avoidance is NOT the same as integrity.
i dont want to live my life tiptoeing through, hoping i dont fall into a sin trap... i want to live my life knowing that i walked it with integrity and my character was proven to be good. I want to be like the wife with noble character in Proverbs 31.
i read a book recently that has really taken my thoughts and views on the church to the next level. this book is called 'unchristian' by david kinnamen and gabe lyons - the barna group guy. they went out and researched and asked people of all ages why they are "unchristian" (the term they coined after meeting this group of people.) but of all the surveys, one really left a lasting impression on me, and it wasnt a question to the unchristians, it was a questions to those of us that are followers of Christ.
What is the measure of your Christian life? Basically, how can you tell you're doing a good job at it?
the number one answer?
the appearance of having no sin.
the answer was not devout worship, and studying the Word, feeding the homeless, and prayer. it was appearing that you were in a sense, sin-less. avoiding sin. thats how you know youre doing it right...
huh?! i mean, who are you trying to fool anyway?
unfortunately, and i hate to bust your spiritual bubble on this one, but ALL have sinned and fallen short. And the longer that you want to waste your life appearing like youre better than the rest of the world - you have missed it. you have missed out on some ridiculously important values that you claim with your mouth that you support.
lets love somebody for a change. lets worship the Lord with a little more heart. lets pray and read and actually let it move you somewhere deeper.
avoiding sin is going to be a pretty hard task to accomplish for you and me. but even if you get over the fact that you will in fact sin, probably within the next 5 minutes... can we as a Christian culture get over the fact that what we really want is not necessarily a deeper relationship with the Lord at all... but what we want is the guy next to us in church to think we have one deeper than his.
ouch.
if we strive to appear to be sinless, we may fool some people - but thats not living in a real and authentic community with anybody. real community, and real relationships are essential to having abundant life, and i believe a life of transparency is essential to having real relationships.
appearing to have no sin is foolish, and using that to measure our Christian life is ludicrous. sin is inevitable.
but when it comes to integrity - its about the heart. living a life with integrity and with noble character really doesn't come down to if you had a drink or if you said a bad word. living a life of integrity comes down to telling the truth and doing the right thing when it doesn't feel good...
it's about letting the character of Christ transform your life.
But they will know that we are His followers because of, not how we appear to have no no sin, but by how we love them.
James Stalker, puts it like this:
"The most important part of the training of the Twelve was one which perhaps at the time little noticed, though it was producing splendid results - the silent and constant influence of his character on them. It was this which made them into the men they became."
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