Sunday, November 30, 2008

Core Values

For the next three days, we are going to keep looking into the book of Proverbs, but I wanted to diverge a little and talk about something that was integral to my tenure as an officer in the Air Force. I know that I talk a great deal about this time in my life, but it was big part for the better part of 12 years and many of my life lessons were learned as a leader in this country's military. While in the Air Force, we followed three core values that were the bedrock of our service commitment: Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence In All We Do. As you can see, these three core values can be applied to our lives outside of the structure and mission of a military force.

Let's look at the core value of Integrity First. I always defined integrity as what we do when no one is watching. I try to live out this mantra in my daily life. It's easy to do the right thing when others are observing what we do. Politicians are a great example. So what does this have to do with Proverbs and living our lives for Christ? "The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out" (Prov. 10:9 NIV).

The heart of this passage is in "walking securely." As Christ followers, we must walk with Christ securely through our day to day activities and actions. We must ensure that our integrity remains intact through the example that we set. God must be a part of everything that we do. When He is foremost in our decisions, in our responsibility, in all aspects of our lives, the Spirit then guides our every decision. When the Spirit guides our every decision, we become integrity personified and the light of Christ will shine through us. Also, our guilt does not consume us and we walk securely knowing that we have done as God commanded. Second thoughts are God talking.

What do we do when we are alone, flipping through the channels at night? What do we do when we are upset about our boss' decision? What do we do when there is a whole bunch of money on the line but the deal is shady? Our conscience is our integrity. When we ignore our conscience, we ignore Christ because the Spirit of God IS our conscience when we are "walking securely" with Him.

Just got Godfreeze and it hurts,
Jesus Freak Out!

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