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Thursday, April 30, 2009

2 Timothy 2:15-17, The Message

Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won't be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they're not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul.

This is another good passage on living authentically. Authenticity and integrity are very similar, I think I prefer the word authentic because it doesn't sound as formal or rigid. I'm a more laid-back, casual, simple thinker and I like the thought of living true to me in that informal way, and not feeling like I need to conform to a stale word like "integrity." I can't seem to help it, but if someone talks about "living with integrity," I tend to think of an unpleasant stereotype of Christians who are afraid to get dirty or say what they really think or do something out of the ordinary. On a different note, I like using the word "integrity" when it comes to a specific instance of using time well, making an agreement with someone, etc. But an overall umbrella instruction of "have integrity" has never been easy for me to follow. If you get too far off track, you'll find that you've become what these verses say to avoid becoming. You need to pursue a godly life and let your efforts (with God's help of course) manifest themselves in visible ways, from the inside out, so that people know you have integrity and are living authentically.

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