INTEGRITY

"Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us."

1 Peter 2:12

They're everywhere: "Pray for America" signs. My guess is that people who are going to pray sincere prayers for anything, including our country, probably don't need a roadside sign to either remind them how depraved, corrupt, and woeful things are in America, or that we desperately need to seek God's will, presence, and supernatural power to properly remedy the situation.

The real issue is one of integrity.

Several years ago Steve Harvey opened a stand-up routine with, "Let's bow our heads in prayer." When finished, he said, "All right! Now we got that $#!T out of the way, let's have some fun!" The crowd demonstrated its overwhelming approval of Mr. Harvey's approach to prayer with raucous applause and laughter. I imagine Israel's kings opened their ceremonies in much the same way: a prayer, a psalm, and maybe even the reverent reading of Scripture... right before they broke out into idol worship and child sacrifice.

There are hordes of duplicitous Christians today just like that Steve Harvey crowd - briefly offering flashes of superficial, disingenuous reverence while the idolatrous monster lurking just beneath the surface froths and drools in anticipation of resuming its unimpeded narcissistic autonomy.

The deplorable depths of darkness and depravity are often exposed through our Burger King and McDonald's prayers: "Have it your way!" and "You deserve it!" That's the mindset and motivation behind lip service.

The person with the Easter cross in their yard is often the same one trampling their neighbor for a sale... often the same one coaching his Christian middle school basketball team to drive the opposition into the dirt by a score of 70-11... the same one surfing porn and committing adultery in their heart... the same one enduring a blizzard for their team yet skipping church for the slightest chance of snow... or rain... or fog... or sunshine.

Rather than putting an Easter cross or a "Pray for America" sign in the yard... rather than checking the prayer box before getting back to doing whatever we see fit to do in our own eyes... What if we led lives of integrity that made our testimonies regarding Christ believable?

What if our Christian school administrators, teachers, and coaches had integrity? What if they not only told our kids that honoring God is more important than test scores, report cards, scholarships, and winning - but demonstrated it in how they live their lives? What if our neighbors got a very real sense that we care about them rather than merely uttering a one-time half-hearted invitation to church out of some sense of guilt or obligation? What if our online social media presence communicated an unyielding love for King Jesus rather than the love of money, success, food, vacays, and self? What if we sought first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and trusted Him to take care of everything else? What if our homes, schools, fields, courts, and churches truly were the "Home of The Saints"?

America doesn't need pathetic, distant, disconnected, and disingenuous prayers amounting to nothing more than "getting it out of the way" before getting back to our idol worship. The world needs the Body & Bride of Christ to be people of faith and integrity because the world needs the Jesus of Scripture - not the cheap imitation He's portrayed as through the lives of many Christians today.

"Righteousness guards the person of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner."

-Proverbs 13:6

Blessings and love,

Kevin M. Kelley

unstoppablekidsbooks.com