March 26 - Standing In A Fallen World

Standing In A Fallen World

“Our responsibility is never to oppose truth but to stand for truth at all times.”

 2 Corinthians 13:8

In a world of compromise, it is becoming more difficult than ever to find people who walk the walk and talk the talk.  From politicians to athletes to celebrities, we continue to see how the mighty have fallen.  Those who hold strongly to God’s Word in issues of integrity can at times seem to appear more extinct than the Tyrannosaurus Rex.  As George Barna shared in his landmark book, The Frog in the Kettle, the slow boil of a godless culture will test every person at one point or another to the core.

Brux Austin, the editor of Texas Business magazine, has written rather despairingly: "What is going on in North America?  We have no built-in beliefs, no ethical boundaries. `Cheat on your taxes, just don’t get caught. Cheat on your wife, just don’t get AIDS.’ Our high-tech society," he writes, "has given us everything - everything but a conscience." It appears integrity is a mangled casualty of our times.

      

In James Patterson and Peter Kim’s book, The Day America Told the Truth, they polled the American public to ask, "What are you willing to do for $10,000,000? They found that:

-25% would abandon their entire family
-25% would abandon their church
-23% would become prostitutes for a week or more
-16 % would give up their American citizenships
-16% would leave their spouses
-10% would withhold testimony and let a murderer go free
-7% would kill a stranger
-3% would put their children up for adoption
            

Two-thirds of Americans polled would agree to at least one of the above and some agreed to several.  We need to be consistent. There are few qualities that will determine your destiny than integrity. Its importance in our walk with the Lord can’t be overstated.   God's heart for us has been made clear.  Proverbs 19:1 says, “Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than he who is perverse in speech and is a fool” while Job 8:20 concurs; “Lo, God will not reject a man of integrity, nor will He support the evildoers.”

Yet, in the midst of a fallen culture, there are examples of ones who stand. During this March Madness time of year, the story of this unheralded high school program came to light some time back.  Cleveland Stroud had coached the Blue Collar Bulldogs for 18 years before his basketball team made it to the state championship. Stroud recalls that "it was the perfect night" when they won. "A night you dream of." He was carried around the gym on the shoulders of his triumphant players and their proud parents. The local paper put his picture on the front page. Two months after the championship, during a routine grade check, Stroud discovered that one player was academically ineligible. The player had only played 45 seconds during the regional qualifying tournament. Stroud says, "I thought it was all ruined. I went through a phase where I was really depressed."

He struggled with what to do next. Yet, his commitment to integrity led him to the right decision. “Winning is the most important thing for any coach," he says. "But your principles have to be higher than your goals."  He reported the error to the league and the Bulldogs forfeited their trophy. When the team lamented their loss in the locker room, he told them, "You’ve got to do what is honest, what is right, and what the rules say.  People forget the scores of basketball games, but they don’t ever forget what you are made of."

More important, God wants to see what we are made of.  Paul wrote in his second letter to the church at Corinth, “Our responsibility is never to oppose truth but to stand for truth at all times.” (2 Corinthians 13:8).  And stand we must with our words, our actions, and our very lives.  This truth is just as real 2,000 years later and will never change.  If you want to be a person of integrity, you’re going to have to stand up when it’s uncomfortable or even when others don’t notice. But in the end, you can always be sure Someone will notice…and He will be well pleased.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)      Why is compromise so prevalent in our world?

2)      How does God’s Word shape us in a compromising world?

Consider reading the Word today:

 

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser