{integrity.}

God is teaching me a lot about integrity these days.

Just recently, in my Bible study, I came across this verse in I Chronicles 29:17…

“…you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there.”

And it hit me all of a sudden.

Integrity is really, everything. And when you lose it, sadly, you lose your spiritual senses. You lose your ability to discern and know what is right in the eyes of God. You lose your ability to feel conviction over the way you treat others and live a life of compromise. And, as evidenced in this verse…

You lose your ability to bring joy to Jesus Christ.

This, my friends, is a truth that has stuck with me since I came across this verse over the weekend.

Because I am a "visualist" (not a word but it should be), I process things better when I picture them in my mind. This is just my take on it, ya’ll. I'm not sure it's the way it actually goes down. But it’s how I see it through my lens…

Jesus, with His beautiful, probing eyes, looks deep into the heart of the person on His examining table. Carefully and purposefully, He peels back the surface layers of flowery talk and fancy achievements and gets down to the core where the true condition can be found. Digging even deeper, He looks at things residing in more shadowy spots, unable to be seen by the human eye. He inspects the corners where things like motive and truth reside. And, as the Ultimate physician, after He has made His findings, He leaves the examining room with the terms of the condition of the heart He just examined fresh on His mind.

Feelings are incited. Joy. Pleasure. Satisfaction. Delight in a pure and cleansed, vibrant heart, beating for Him.

Such are the hearts of those who have decided along the way that the honest, authentic life is the way to go. Such are the hearts of those who live with a holy confidence that they are not missing out on what the world says they need, even when it gives them some sense of emotional relief. Such are the hearts of those who trust the One who makes it possible for us to forgo our natural flesh tendencies of lust, pride, anger, jealousy, fear, and deceit. They are the ones who believe with full faith that vengeance is God’s…fame is fleeting…and purposeful living and personal responsibility is ours to choose or lose. These are the hearts He laughs, cheers and celebrates over because they get it.

But then there are those inspected hearts that bring about another set of His emotions…

Disappointment. Sorrow. Maybe even righteous anger. Pain over knowing that life is theirs to choose, but knowing they were offered the better way of living to begin with.

These are the hearts of those who sell their soul to become popular, liked, noticed, important, pleasured, and superior. While the outer layer they want people to see may bring recognition and respect, the inner core of the heart tells the story and incites the responses from the One who created us. For those of us who buy into what the world says is fulfilling and real, our hearts are examined and found to be dark and dirty, as much as the person on the street we compare ourselves to with the intention to make ourselves feel better or less sinful.

The truth is that when the Examiner looks at our hearts, when integrity is not found, the darkness He sees inside doesn’t look any different or darker than those we judge to be worse than us.

{pause and soak that in for a minute.}

The bottom line is that this life is about living authentically and genuinely for Jesus. It is about being able to be in a quiet room with no distractions and have the peace that comes from a life lived with spiritual integrity. It is not about being the most popular person in the room, or the most understood, as good as that feels. It is not something that needs to be appreciated by another flawed human, as people with their own set of motives don't tend to be very discerning and are only wise in their own eyes. But, praise God, it is something that can never be taken away from you when Jesus truly knows the inner workings of your heart.

I, for one, want to be the one on the examining table that incites cheers from my Lord.

Just the thought that He might cheer over me makes me want to continue to keep my hands and heart squeaky clean before Him.

How about you?