Integrity- People of God

Believing in God is more than an intellectual knowledge of God. It is more than an intellectual climb to attain information about God. People will say they believe in something but what they mean is they may have a knowledge that it exists but not a commitment to fully trust in that person or thing. One of the enemy’s tactics is to get people confused about God’s Word and His truth by distorting or changing our understanding of the true meaning of words. This is done to confuse us in our reading and understanding of truth with a confused or different meaning from the original text.

To have knowledge of something in one’s mind is different than having a belief or a conviction of the soul and spirit, to be committed to that belief. Knowledge of a thing shows the receipt of information or data. True belief by definition is to have confidence, which is full trust or reliability of a person, and assurance in the truth, existence, reliability of that person or thing. Though it may be without absolute proof, your believing is the faith, the confidence or trust in a person, and becomes an obligation of loyalty to that person.

The only thing that was required of Adam was to believe and obey God’s Word of Truth. God told man that he was created in His likeness and the day he ate of the tree of knowledge he would die. The world system gives different meaning to life so to confuse people in knowing good from evil. Adam’s action to eat the fruit God told him not to eat reflected Adam’s choice to obey and listen to the enemy rather than God.

Because man obeyed Satan man became a servant and under Satan’s authority and rule. God was no longer the Sovereign King of man. God is true to His Word and He will not violate His word. Nor will God violate man’s will or his ability to choose to have another ruler over him. God could not void man’s choice and be faithful to His word. Most of us would ask, why did God allow this to happen? If God loved us, He would not let that happen or if He were all-powerful, He would stop Satan.

It was the love God had for man that gave man the ability to choose and God’s faithfulness to His word that restrained Him from stepping in and void the results of man’s choice. God showed His love for man by allowing him a choice and not making him a robot. God’s love, mercy and grace are seen in God providing man a Saviour. God’s faithfulness to His word is displayed in His restraint in not interfering with man’s choice but to remain true to His word to give them, dominion over the things in the earth.

Genesis 2: 16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Absolute power without rules of order and integrity will lead to brutality and mayhem. God’s word is His rule of order. He cannot and will not violate His word even at the great cost of losing mankind to rebellion and knowing the choice would destroy man in his created state. God is a God of integrity and principle and we are created to be like Him, in our life choices, to hold true to our word with integrity. An example of this is shown in Daniel. The king made a law and once a law was established the king himself could not alter or change the law. The king himself had to abide by the law that was implemented. Daniel was a man the king respected but the integrity of his word could not be violated, even at the cost of throwing Daniel into the lion’s den. This was done to keep the integrity of an earthly king’s law. It is much more important for the God of the universe to protect and keep His word!

God is not a man and He cannot lie, He must hold true to His word no matter the cost. Just as Daniel had to go into the lion’s den to protect the integrity of the king, God had to allow man a choice to hold true to His integrity. God brought Daniel out of the lion’s den just as God has provided a plan for man to be redeemed. God decided to pay the penalty for man’s rebellion and die in his stead. God provided man with another chance, to choose life rather than death to accept Jesus as their payment for sin.

Numbers 23:1 God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

The rebellion of Adam and Eve allowed Satan to have dominion over this world system for a season. The very dominion God had given to mankind was turned over to Satan and this is why there is such hate, death and destruction in the world today. Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy man- the object of God’s love and affection the very one created in His image.

Jesus came, paid the penalty for man’s rebellion and returned the Kingdom of Heaven back to the earth and now we are able to become citizens of this kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God was made available to all who believe in His Son. Now there are two kingdoms in operation on earth trying to advance its kingdom influence in the world, the fallen kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God which bringing the light of truth. We still have to choose, in this life, which we will serve, the true King or the father of lies and our choice will be reflected in our actions. We have the same choice Adam and Eve had a choice that will display to the world who we are listening to and obeying, the truth of God or the lies of Satan.

Knowledge is only information; it is data we have on a subject, person or thing. Belief, however, is a commitment to a person or thing. It is having faith, belief and commitment that the person is all they said they are, even if there are no substantial proofs showing we are right. This is why believing in Jesus takes faith, not just to know Him, but to trust Him. Faith believes He is God and is committed to trust Him in the face of dark circumstances. We may be unable to produce, to the satisfaction of sceptics, the evidences they want us to produce but we believe that He is and He is able and will keep His promises. Our faith and the way we live with integrity is a testament of God, His power and what He can do with a simple life that is lived for Him. A life well lived points to God’s divine strength helping us to live a life of forgiveness and love which is only by the power of God’s grace and mercy.

Right believing leads to right thinking, which leads to right actions and this is what God wants for His people. When we know how much God loves us and all He has done just for us to succeed, our action would line up with what is true out of gratitude. We will want to do what brings honor and pleasure to our God. Loving children want to bring honor to their parents who have loved and given for their wellbeing. We as children of the Most High Kings should want to bring honor to our Heavenly Father. We do this by the choices we make in our daily lives to trust God and to show His love to an undeserving world.