1 Tim 6:2-12 / Lk 8:1-3
Through town after town and across the countryside into the tiniest of villages, Jesus walked and walked, month after month, proclaiming the Good News. The gospels are filled with his words, but equally important are the deeds that they report. What he did had every much as great an impact as what he said, and that’s because he had integrity: his deeds matched his words; all the pieces of his life fit together and there were none left over. He talked love and forgiveness, and he lived it every day of his life.
Jesus’ integrity, which was so deeply rooted, was what gave him so much power to heal and strengthen people and help them to change. They sensed that he could be trusted, and therefore they were confident that he could show them the way to life and could help them find their way home to the Father.
With God’s help, our own integrity — though never perfect — is a gift we can give to one another, just as Jesus did. In our own way, we can be beacons that light up the dark and encourage people to keep striving and not give up. In our honest willingness to name and own our own mistakes, we can be a source of comfort and growth for others. As we slowly grow more whole, we can cause people to look at us and say to themselves, “Living like that rings true. I’d like to be like that. I can be like that.”
Give your neighbors the silent gift of your own integrity. Someday, though maybe not till heaven, you’ll discover what a powerful gift it was.
