Friday, February 6, 2009

Anchor Friday - Discipline and Integrity



Happy Anchor Friday to you all! I just read Joan's post and it was great. It's hard to be transparent and honest, but, as I am learning, that's the way to grow and change! So, thank you Joan, for opening up to us, your fellow bloggers ; )

Joan picked out some great verses from Proverbs for us. I always love it that she uses the NLT. I don't have that version at home, and it's nice to read from it from time to time.

10:17 People who accept discipline are on the pathway to life, but those who ignore correction will go astray.

It is so hard to accept discipline from the Lord. But, He is our loving Father, and when He sees us rebelling, He disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness (Hebrews 12:10).

This is something I thought about alot this week....my Father loves me. He really loves me. And that is why He disciplines me. He wants the best for me. He wants me to share in His holiness. How awesome is that?? Me?? A sinner, who hated God, rebelled against Him, rejected Him....and yet, He loved me. And He continues to love me. So much so, that He will spare no expense (including painful discipline) to make me holy, like He is.

But, if we ignore His correction, what will happen to us? We will go astray. We won't share in His holiness. We will continue to follow our sinful flesh and will not experience His blessing. We'll be racked with guilt and shame and we'll be left feeling like hypocrites.

Is that what we want? No. So, when your Heavenly Father corrects you and disciplines you, do not ignore Him. Do not shrug Him off. Accept His correction with humility and thankfulness, and expect God to do something awesome.

10: 29 The way of the LORD is a stronghold to those with integrity, but it destroys the wicked.

If we do accept God's correction, guess what will happen to our character? It will develop an awesome thing called, "integrity." When I was a teenager, I heard a youth leader explain integrity to us like this, "Integrity is what you do when no one is around."

That has always stuck with me. If I can obey Christ, and surrender myself to Him at home, when I am by myself, then I have integrity. And when I have integrity, the Lord is my stronghold. I am protected! I am strengthened. I am safe. It's not easy for the world, the flesh or the devil to get in and hurt me.

That's what we want, ladies. Let's keep that goal in our sights when we are at home alone in front of the TV with chocolate chip cookies calling our name from the kitchen. Or when we are in the potato chip aisle at the supermarket and you don't recognize anybody around you. Keep it in your mind that if you resist sin in this moment, and in the next moment, and tomorrow, and next week, God will become your fortress and your protector and it will be easier and easier for you to resist temptation.

I want to hear from you. I want you to comment and share with us what particular thing you know you will face this week that will make it hard for you to be a woman of integrity. Share it with us (be specific), and Natasha and I will pray for you this week. And then you can come back next week and let us know how it went!

Can't wait to hear from you!

~Claudia

6 comments:

Beth in NC said...

Hi Claudia,

My weakness is chocolate. Even if it is a box of Weight Watcher chocolate fudge ice cream bars. Six come in a box and that can easily be gone in two days. That is one area I definitely need to reign back into submission.

I pray God would continue to prompt us when we start to make poor choices.

Bless you!

Joan said...

Claudia,
You are so right. Intergrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking.
I pray that I improve my discipline and integrity this week with God's help of course.

Blessings

Anonymous said...

Okay this blog is a blessing. Good to know that I am not alone. God bless you!!!!!

TreasuringChrist said...

Great post. Yes, a sign of integrity is how we act when other people are not around to see what we do, the choices we make.

TreasuringChrist said...

Beth--Natasha and I are going to pray for you this week! Thanks for sharing. I love, love, love chocolate and those fudge ice cream bars sound wonderful. Hey, at least they are WW! I guess 3 per day is probably a bit much, though : ) 1 per day would be better! We will pray that you can surrender and submit to God in this area. Let us know how it goes. ; )

TreasuringChrist said...

Joan, we will pray for you as well, even though you didn't give us anything specific, it's okay because Jesus knows ; ) And He loves you and He wants you to experience blessing in this area of your life. Just trust Him and do what's right and expect a good result!

~Claudia