The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Fruit of the Spirit, continued

As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, (I Kings 9:4—NIV)

The person who seeks to live honorably and nobly, behaving with unchangeable integrity, is sometimes scorned as a loser, so debauched has our society become.

There is no peace where there is no truth, no nobility, no honor, no integrity. How could there be? The person without integrity has to scramble constantly to conceal his motives and actions. How can he rest knowing that if the truth were uncovered he would be put to shame or locked up in jail?

The person who is walking in light, in integrity, runs to the light that his motives and actions may be shown to be of God. He is fearless, not having to look over his shoulder to see if anyone is uncovering the truth of his or her life.

There is no peace for the wicked or for those who dwell on the practices of the wicked.

We have been commanded to think about that which is right, is just, is in keeping with God's Word. Much is said in the Book of Psalms about the value of delighting in the Law of the Lord, of meditating in it constantly.

The commandments of Christ and His Apostles are plumb lines. The pronouncements of our society concerning what is right, such as unfaithfulness in marriage and unlimited fornication, are revealed as unrighteous when the plumb line of the New Testament is placed against them.

Gossip and slander, for example, are more or less accepted as part of Christian church life. But the New Testament pronounces such behavior as worthy of death. In fact, the New Testament condemns much of what takes place in America and in the churches of today.

We have to keep on thinking about that which is right, as judged by the written Word of God. If we do not our mind is soon bending toward the values of the world system. Then we forget that the ways of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life are an abomination to the Father.

Numerous American Christians went to see the moving picture, Titanic. This moving picture is pure worldliness. Why were the Christians unable to recognize that such entertainment is not of God? It is because the preaching in America is weak and unscriptural in many instances.

We are in the world but we have been commanded to come out of the ways of the world and touch not the unclean thing, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Until we do this we are totally unable to have peace. Peace is possible only when we are continually thinking about that which is right and modifying our motives, speech, and actions accordingly.

We have been exhorted to think about that which is pure. When Satan is having his way the newspapers are filled with graphic accounts of sexual perversity, including child molestation. From Satan's point of view it is not absolutely necessary the believer do these things, only that he or she keeps thinking about them; dwelling on them.

To be continued.