Integrity- People of God

God created man to reflect God’s glory on the earth. That is man’s created purpose. However, Satan, the enemy of God came and derailed man from his created purpose. Man began following Satan looking and acting like the one they followed. The Bible tells us that whomever we obey is who we will serve. So whether we operate by a conscious decision or unconscious acts as creatures of habit or culture, what we do in this life reflects our deep seated beliefs and who we truly serve.

Romans 6:16  Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? WEB

Everyone is given a life to live for the glory of God. How we invest this life is our choice. What we decide to spend our time, talent and wealth on reflects those things that are important to us. Our culture has placed value on certain things such as houses, cars and bank accounts. Our families also put value on some things that may cause us to compromise our priorities. But the things that are eternal, those things that God has created us for, should take precedent over all others. We are all seeds planted by God in this time a space that we may produce a harvest.

Genesis 8:22   As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
The seeds we should be sowing are things that are right. We are to do right by others even if it may cause us discomfort or loss. It is when we do what is right by others that the seed is planted and in due season it will produce fruit of righteousness. God wants to shower us with His righteousness and He to makes provisions for us.

Hosea 10: 12a             Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground… 

God is faithful to His word. He tells us not to be deceived by Satan’s lies and the world’s deception, because whatever we sow we shall reap. God’s principle was put in place at the beginning of creation in Genesis. God promised as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest time. This principle is as sure as gravity what goes up will come down unless we implement a greater principle.

If we sow good things we will reap good things and if you sow the things of the spirit, you will reap things of the spirit. As every farmer knows sowing and reaping is a process that takes time. We don’t plant today and reap tomorrow. The harvest must go through the seasons and maturing process. That is why God says we will reap if we don’t faint, if we don’t give up before the process is finished.

Galatians 6: 7             Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

God wants to bless us with everything we need and more so that we can give to others out of our abundance and overflow. Greed is taking over our culture to the point that people are never satisfied. The more we have the more we want to spend on ourselves. We want to tear down our old barns and build newer and bigger barns to store our things. Just as the rich man in the parable didn’t know his life would come to an end that night, we don’t know when we will be required to give an account of our life.

God gives us the abundance and overflow so that we can give freely to the poor. Through our generosity, people will give thanks to God. It is through our giving we ourselves are refreshed, and the people’s needs are met and with this God is glorified.

2 Corinthians 9:8-12                   And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”

 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

Just as we invest our money into financial institutions expecting a return on our investments, so God looks for a return on the life He gave us to invest in the earth. This life was created to bring glory to His name and to reflect His character. It is the end results that reflect the truth. In the end will our life speak of God’s glory or will it speak of us being self-centered and self-consumed people?