People of Integrity
Something that has been weighing heavy on my heart for quite some time now is the state of the believers in these last days. While others are getting hungry, many are already falling away as the Bible speaks of. I see great deception on every side. People are getting offended and leaving churches and dividing the body of Christ. They care more about themselves and their own wants, needs and comforts than they do the body of Christ and His eternal purposes. They don’t realize that when God puts them in a body it is for a divine and eternal purpose. If the leaders quit preaching the Gospel or will not allow the Holy Spirit to move, that’s a different story. However, leaving because someone upsets us, didn’t agree with us, or hurt us is not a reason to leave. It causes such hurt and havoc as they leave behind wounds, disillusionment and emptiness. They commit financially and to serve in different capacities. Then the Lord and that pastor move in the direction and they don’t care about their commitment or the financial lurch it leaves a body in. Many commit to partnership with missionaries and evangelists. The church then promises that missionary that amount and the families leave without looking back. The pastor must now keep that commitment and be a man of his word and does not know where it will come from. He may build a church for the congregation he has now plus planning for growth. The financial commitment increases but the people leave and don’t look back. Now what? What is worse, they take their problems with them to the next church hoping the leadership will agree one hundred percent with them. That usually happens for a while because the pastor is so excited about growth (which isn’t growth at all but transplants) then if he ever has to correct them at all or initiate a program they don’t like or someone else offends them they won’t think twice about taking off again. I wonder how God views all of this.
As I am now a pastor’s wife and also seeing this more and more in the churches I preach in, I realize it is one of the major deceptions in the last hour. It can cause a church to start losing momentum. Then the others get discouraged and want to leave what they think is a sinking ship. Whatever happened to endurance, tenacity, strength of character, keeping your word to your hurt, laying your life down and not taking count of any wrong-doing. Whatever happened to “You can depend on me through thick and thin.”? Whatever happened to integrity? One of the things that would help is if pastors were made up that way. The more I watch my husband, the more I see Christ. He is a man of His word and believes in commitment more than anyone I know, even when it hurts. He told me that he signed a covenant in our city years ago that said he wouldn’t even receive people from another church without talking to their previous pastor, and arranging a meeting between them all to try to rectify the situation. I watch him keep that covenant all by himself while many do not reciprocate. He said that he will do what’s right no matter what others do. He walks in love and forgiveness when people he thought of like his own sons and daughters rip his heart out without even a simple meeting or explanation. He continues to pray for them and love them.
Revival must go deeper. No one loves the manifestations any more than I do. However, if we do not get up off the floor changed, we had best get another dip. I have had the privilege of meeting many ministers around the world in the last few years. While many practice what they preach, others treat people like dirt in a back room, are jealous and competitive, think more highly of themselves than they should, manipulate and control, and the list goes on. I used to go to my hotel room and cry and say to The Lord and sometimes my assistants, “Lord, don’t ever let me get like that.” I would rather be a waitress that become like that. Now, I will be the first to admit I’ve made some poor decisions when it comes to my personal life in who I trusted. I’ve allowed God to show me how that happened and to change me. He has restored me and given to me my heart’s desired in a wonderful husband. None of us are perfect and we have all missed it in different areas. Though I’ve made judgment mistakes, I don’t believe I have ever been a person or minister who treats people badly. The presence of God means too much to me. It comes back to the old song, “To be like Jesus, all I ask is to be like Him”.
