Devotion for today

Devotional - 97-12-16 - Integrity

Titus 1:7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain.

So who leads? Who are those who are leaders in the Christian Church? As a Presbyterian, I will say, men of integrity are to lead the church. That is my opinion, but I understand that many who might be reading this think that women should be leaders as well. I do not see that in the Scripture. But to appease some I will simply say a leader needs integrity, eliminating gender.

What is integrity? Well, I Think it starts at home. Do you want to be a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ? I would ask you how your home life is. First, do you love your wife?, do you have devotions with your family, how about your kids, do they honor the lord? These questions only scratch the surface, but they are the first questions for a leader. What is going on with your family?

Family is the big cover up in the Christian faith. Why? Because it is the most obvious. If there are struggles in this place, it becomes really obvious, and really public. This is true if you are a leader already. If you are a leader now, your family problems will be the talk of the church, even if they like your problems: must be hidden. If you are not a leader in the church, well, family problems, no matter what your status, will kill any leadership opportunities in the church, or the church blows it and you get in. To serve Christ is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Saviour. We must serve him selflessly. There are too many who win positions of authority, who then abuse this privilege, and the church must unite and say, “you may be important, but I will stand for truth, and you have violated the cause of Christ, your office demands you must repent, truth..” The church must reject those who have used their office to sin. This is really hard to do, but sin is hard to deal with also. What Honors our Lord Jesus Christ must be our question. Anything else must be eliminated and condemned.

I have come to realise that nothing is more important in a christian leader than integrity. I suppose taken from the words of spiderman, " With great power comes, great responsiblity." As christian we must always follow God and not people. People will fail you, but God never will. Something i learned that even though we always teach people to follow God, i come to realise most people in reality will follow the leader regardless. The truth is we need to learn how to apply God's principle practically.