Category Archives: integrity

Christian Living, Doing Good, integrity, Love, Obedience, Strength

Love One Another

“Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:11-12 HCSB)

Church, how else is the world going to know Jesus if the world doesn’t see and hear Jesus in us?  Are we ashamed to speak and act like Jesus?  Then why aren’t we doing it?  I know what some of us are saying, right now, “Of course I’m not ashamed of Jesus, how dare you question my love for Him!”  And some of us are even adding an excuse to it, saying, “I just don’t want to offend anyone!”  We seem to have forgotten that Jesus, our Lord and King, has given us a command:

 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35 HCSB).”

How can we, the church, love others outside the church, when we can’t even love one another, in the church?  How can we even call ourselves Christians when we are indifferent to the suffering of our Christians brothers and sisters?  One of the saddest things I’ve ever seen is a church budget.  We spend thousands of dollars caring for buildings and programs, and just a few dollars, in comparison, for the overall care of our own brothers and sisters in need.  Where we, the church, spend the most money is where our hearts are.

I would rather be hated by the world for my love for God and others, than be loved by the world for my indifference.  Jesus loved me and gave Himself for me and others, so I will love Him and give myself for Him and others in return.  I will love Him, and others, even if it costs me my life, because I would rather be loved by God and hated by the world, than to be loved by the world and hated by God.

So, church, how can we love one another as the Lord has commanded us to do?  It’s simple, just find someone in your congregation that is need of love and care, and love and care for them.  Supply their needs without expecting anything in return.

Church, if there is no benevolence fund for your congregation in your budget, isn’t it time to change that?  Isn’t it time to be an example to the world of what it looks like to love one another?  If we want our world to change, change has to begin with us.

Awareness, Christian Living, Doing Good, Freedom, Hope, integrity, Salvation, Tests

How Well Do We Know Ourselves?

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.” (Psalms 139:23-24)

Because of our sin nature, every one of us has a skewed view of our selves.  Sin is what is familiar to us, which blurs what’s important.  Because of our sin nature, we excuse the wrong we do and lessen our guilt for doing it.  This is what is normal to us.  The result of this is that we see ourselves very differently than others do, and even how God does.  There could be, in each one of us, an evil habit, or a strong pull to do what is wrong in God’s eyes, which, if not dealt with, can overpower and destroy us.  Not only that, there could also be something in our hearts or lives, that causes us to think less of ourselves, nullifying our ability to be an influence for good.  Here’s the thing, we may not even be aware of all this.  Look at what God tells us about ourselves, through the Prophet Jeremiah:

“The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9).”

The very next verse (verse 10) aught to cause us to tremble, and to be grateful at the same time:

“I, Yahweh, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve Jeremiah 17:10).”

  1. “Tremble” because He is going to judge us and punish us according to whether we live our lives according to His will, or our will.
  2. “Grateful” because He loves us enough to warn us and give us the opportunity to drop our own way of living and live according to His ways.

The reality is that we do not know ourselves as well as we portray ourselves to.  Therefore, the wise thing to do on our part, is to ask our Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent God to do for us what King David begged Him to do for him in today’s passage of Scripture.  King David asks God to do four very important things for Him:

  1. “Search me, God, and know my heart;” – He asks God to search the very depths of his heart – that God would search every part of his being, leaving nothing about him unstarched.
  2. “test me and know my concerns.” – He asks God to test and see that he is not representing himself as a God loving, God fearing man, when he is not.
  3. “See if there is any offensive way in me;” – He asks God to make sure there is nothing in himself that is offensive to God.  He does not want to offend God in any way.
  4. “lead me in the everlasting way.” –  King David asks God to put him on the path to, and lead him on the way to eternal life. In others words, He wants to live according to God’s will, which will lead him to an eternal life in heaven with God.

King David was afraid of breaking God’s heart again, and becoming useless to Him. How well do you know yourself?  Is there anything hidden in your life that is hindering you from being an instrument of God for good?

Will we all have the courage to ask God for what King David asked Him?

In Christ’s love,

Phil Covone

Blessings, Christian Living, Encouragement, integrity, Strength

Integrity and Blessing

“The one who lives with integrity is righteous; his children who come after him will be happy.” (Proverbs 20:7 HCSB)

Integrity seems to be a word that our society has taken out of our everyday vocabulary.  It appears not to be taught, or practiced, in our homes, schools, universities, in our work places, and definitely not in our local, state and federal government.  The frightening evidence of our lack of integrity is in the public display of it all around us, every day.  The most frightening part is that it can also be said of a lot of Christians, as well.  Today’s verse teaches a lesson we all should learn and heed.  Here’s what it says:

  1. “The one…” – makes reference to a man, a father.
  2. “who lives with integrity…” – a father who lives according to God’s moral standards; a father who does what is right according to God’s standards, in his private, and in public, no matter what it costs him.  
  3. “is righteous;” – a father who lives according to God’s moral standard is a godly man, and father; a Christian father. 
  4. “his children who come after him…” – those children who follow their godly father’s good example.
  5. “will be happy.” – only the children who have and follow the example of their godly father will be blessed and happy.

So, today’s verse could be read, A godly man who lives according to God’s moral standard, will bring blessing and happiness upon his children who follow his good, godly example (Proverbs 20:7, paraphrased).

Can you imagine what our country would be like if we, fathers and future fathers, would make a commitment to live our lives according to God’s standards and teach those same standards to our children and grandchildren?  I realize that not every child will chose to follow a father’s example or teachings, but God says that they will never forget it, and maybe they will return to it at a later time.  Look at what He says:

 “Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up (Deuteronomy 11:18-19).” 

If we are Christian fathers, it is our responsibility to make sure that our children know who God is, know how to know Him personally, and learn to put all their faith and trust in Him alone.  God put that responsibility on us, not our nannies, babysitters, moms, grandparents, Sunday School teachers, school teachers, or university professors.  God says:

“Teach a youth about the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).”

So how can we do this with our busy schedules?

  1. We must make the spiritual well-being of our children is top priority.
  2. We must make their salvation top priority, for what will it profit them if they gain the whole world, but when they die, they end up in hell.  (Mark 8:36).
  3. They must see in us, what we’re trying to teach them.  They can’t see it if we’re not spending enough with them for them to see it.
  4. We must make the sacrifices necessary to get this done.
  5. OUR CHILDREN ARE WORTH IT!!!  ALL CHILDREN ARE WORTH IT!!!

So, then,

  • how are we going to obey today’s lesson?
  • With whom will we share what we learned in today’s lesson?
  • With who will we share the story of our salvation, and the story of Jesus has done for us?

In Christ’s love,

Phil Covone