Integrity
God always has a man. Someone to stand in the gap and declare His Word to His people. In the Old Testament there was Moses who passed the mantle onto Joshua, and Elijah who passed it onto Elisha. In the New Testament we see Paul raising up Timothy and others. One such individual in which God uses must have a big dose of integrity.
As I look back more than twenty plus years of ministry I remember those I have met with many gifts ‘dripping off their lives'. They can organize, evangelize, and mobilize, but when you look at their integrity many of these individuals are found lacking. They seem to be short in areas of money management, honesty, dependability, and long in the ego department. They are always looking for the great deal, the quick fix, the big break in their vocation with only one person on their mind - and it wasn't Jesus.
In the Old Testament there was one man who was in line to take Elisha's place. His name was Gehazi and he had been with the best. He had seen God move mightily, but for some strange reason, his life never really changed. He first appears in II Kings 4 serving the man of God. Here we see the Shunamite woman hosting these two men in her home. God blessed her with a son and subsequently the boy died. When Elisha dispatched Gehazi to minister to her, she would not even tell him the problem.(11 Kings 4:25-26) In the next verse he pushed her away from Elisha. He was so insensitive that he couldn't see others' needs for his own ego. The clinger is in the next chapter with Captain Naaman. He ran after gold, missed the whole point, and contacts leprosy. This story of Gehazi is the story of a man who could have been greatly used by God to change lives and even a nation; a man who could have been written up in God's Word as on of God's trophies. He lacked one thing: integrity.
What about you? Are you trusted by God? Do people come to you with their problems and needs because of your concern and wisdom? Are money and position important to you? Are you a name dropper? Self promoter or God promoter? Can you be trusted by God with small things, others' possessions and money? Luke 16:10 tells us that whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with large things and he who is dishonest with little will be dishonest with much. Integrity begins with the small, the unseen. It is sad to say, but integrity seems to be a missing ingredient among many Christians. "In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about you."(Titus 2:7-8)
