Our actions need to match up with the words from our mouths

James 3.1-12

Reference: v. 2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what they say, they are a perfect person, able to keep their whole body in check.

Explore: I recently preached a sermon on Mother Teresa. She was an amazing woman of God who lived a humble life in service to her Saviour. However since her death we have discovered that she had an enduring struggle with her faith by feeling an absense of God's presence.
Some people felt that she had greater strength for enduring the difficult times of unknowing, while others felt that she lacked integrity for continued to serve a god when she questioned it's existence.
Tony Campolo commented on this by suggesting that we all lack integrity. No one can ever stand up to the morals we confess, as this passage from James is true: if we had complete integrity and never faltered we would be perfect.

Application: Integrity is very high up on my values list. I feel that if a person has integrity then they have authority in what they do. As Christians integrity is not just something you can turn on during Sunday. If we are to be Christians with integrity it is a whole lifestyle change. It takes a lot of consistent effort and work, and then we still fail! However it is often the place that people notice the most: if your faith matches up with your lifestyle then it speaks greater volumes than a Bible study lesson. God calls us to love Him and love others. If those two commandments don't demand integrity, I'm not sure what does!

Prayer: Lord, you see all things and hear all things. I am by no means a perfect person, but I don't need to tell you that. While it is hard for me to say this, please show me areas in my life that I need to work on to become a better disciple for You. Amen.