James 4: 13 through 5:6—“Integrity”
Growing up I often heard the phrase, “A good man is hard to find.” It was always said with a bit of a smirk and wink like some kind of inside joke for adults only. I’m sure many of you have heard that phrase as well, or have maybe even said it: a good man is hard to find. It was later on in life as a college student that I began to read Flannery O’Conner in my American Literature class. The phrase came from her book by the same title. Out of interest and the general commands of my professor to read it for the exam, I read through the book late one night.
And, oh, wow. It is a short story about the meaninglessness of life including a serial killer, violent murder descriptions, and human suffering—very incredibly dark stuff. There was nothing uplifting or redeeming in it at all. Yes, it was a very good story, but not for the faint of heart. But as I read through James 4 and 5 and thought on what it means to be “good” or morally right, the word that came up over and over was integrity. As it is Father’s Day, we need to talk a little bit about fathers even though some of us have, at best, strained relationships with our own dads. The question we should ask is this: have we lost integrity? Is a good man (or woman) really hard to find these days?
The first step to having integrity is understanding the phrase, “if the Lord wants.” James talks about people who say, “I will do this or that,” and set up very definitive plans which may or may not part of the Lord’s will. For James, plans are nice, but God’s will is the best one can do. He asks how we will know what life is like tomorrow as we plan and move in our lives, and suggests that such plans are simply our own boasting . Instead we should approach life from the perspective of “if the Lord wants us to…” This idea is in our prayers as we say, “Thy will be done.” It’s in our hymns, as Amanda sang, “All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee.” Integrity means we see our own short-sightedness and rely on God’s wisdom and foresight to guide us. Yes we will go, and yes will will act, “if the Lord wants.”
But integrity also calls us to act when necessary and not remain quiet in the shadows. James writes that “it is a sin to know what you ought to do and then not to do it.” There are a couple of ways this can occur. The first is that we simply forget either willfully or recklessly. James believed Christianity was a continuation of the Jewish traditions with Christ added into the mix, in a very simple explanation. Others believed Christianity was a whole new thing, separate and distinct from Judaism. James is attempting to call back those who have wandered from what he believed was the right approach.
But for us, we often simply get too busy or distracted to follow God or to do what we ought to do. Be kind one to another. Respecting one another’s boundaries. These are things we often forget about or try to avoid because we don’t like them. Integrity means that we live in such a way that we respect the idea that each is made in the image of God. We must remember this and that respect and care are things we are called to do. But also we wrestle with people who simply don’t care about following God’s ways and what is right. As Ephesians 6:12 says, we wrestle against “principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world.”
Having integrity means that we hear God’s call, respond to God’s word, and know that doing otherwise sets us on the pathways of wrongdoing. We have to set aside these desires to delve into selfish motivation or manipulation for our own motives. This idea is the repeated theme of James throughout his Epistle—hear what God says and do it! If we are to have integrity we must respond in this way.
Finally, one of the biggest issues for James that causes problems with our integrity is our positions of power in life and over one another. In Acts 2: 44-45 we read, “And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.” The early church understood that each and every person was simply a broken human being needing Christ’s grace in his or her life. They understood the importance of helping the poor, feeding the hungry, and sharing as each one had.
James points out the power issues and suffering he sees in his day. The rich have fine clothes, gold and silver, great wealth, but it is all useless. For all that has been hoarded will testify against the proud and powerful on the final day. The stories which will mark them are those of cheated field workers and the murdered innocents. A wise person once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Well, actually, it was the comic book character Spider Man, but the wisdom is no less powerful. As followers of Christ, as people of integrity, we cannot use what power we have to exploit and abuse. Christ calls us to care for the least of these. And how we do treat the least of these will testify to our faith and integrity.
So may it never be said of us that good men and women are hard to find. We need to make sure that good people are easy to find in this world. That starts with parents, and fathers, who teach the truth and what is right. That starts with people who set an example of love and care, who do right in all place both in public and when nobody is watching. It starts with people of Christ who encourage life and hope in a weary and hurting world. Many of you have talked to me about everything going on and the worry and unsettled feeling our present trials bring. The answer is two fold—first we must pray, then we must live as people of integrity and people of Christ. If you cannot find good in the world, then go out (safely with a mask) and be the good in the world. Be the light of Christ.
Many of us grew up with the saying that a good man (or woman) is hard to find. But I believe that saying is actually untrue, because if you look closely, you will find them. You will see them in the homeless shelters and the treatment centers. You will see them in churches and in missions. You will see them at home and in the streets. Look around. You will find people of integrity who love God and work hard in faith to bring life and hope. And each one of us has the opportunity, or even the call from God, to be one of those people. I with you all a Happy Father’s Day, and pray for you to be blessed and strengthened with God’s almighty power.