questions part 3

On July 10/11, I offered a two-part post on leadership questions. One of my friends (and regular commenter on this blog), Paul, commented on the post and I was inspired by the point he brought up.

His question has to do with character: "Is my private life the same as the outward life I portray?" He writes about his desire to be like Christ in aspects of character and ends his comment with this caveat: “Especially when no one is looking.”

I was raised in a judgmental spiritual atmosphere where we were taught that God was watching our every move, just waiting for the chance to catch us doing something bad so He could take delight in punishing us. OK, that nay be a little overstated but it was nearly that bad. That teaching left me with feelings of hopelessness and the belief that I could never be good enough for God. Now that I am learning more about grace and know that God doesn’t want to squash me like a bug, I can’t forget the concept that God is watching me and that my character (or lack thereof) is under His watchful eye.

So I am asking myself today: Am I true to God? Do I compromise in areas of integrity? Do my actions reflect what I preach?

Thanks, Paul for the challenge and continual encouragement.

To use again the scripture from yesterday, with an emphasis on a different part:

Psalms 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (NLT)