Disentigrating Integrity

I feel compelled to offer some words to those who call themselves Christians today, especially after the recent shootings and widespread justification for injustice that defies God’s heart and Kingdom. Last semester I took a course about how spiritual formation and pursuing justice are interwoven: true justice flows out of individuals and communities who are continually being transformed by and compelled by the Spirit of God. Therefore, injustice in our society has roots in our souls as well as our systems.

To this point, I am concerned that our souls suffer from the loss of integrity, both in our moral foundation and our ability to live whole and integrated. Paradoxically, although we desire to claim truth and conviction for our platform, it seems we have lost our ability to reflect on where we are standing and why. In fact, as much as I lament the way Christians seem to be pulling in different directions from each other, I fear that some of this has grown out of our being divided (losing integrity) in our own selves.

I’ll begin by posing a couple of questions for reflection:

First, what defines and anchors our moral and ethical beliefs? 

Even those who do not claim spirituality or religion are still anchored in core values, assumptions, and standards. What defines this for you?  From my perspective as a follower of Jesus, I believe that a loving and all-creating God determines my moral and ethical standards, and that I come to learn what brings God’s good, just, and beautiful world through the Bible and the Spirit.

(This is an oversimplification, but we should all be able to articulate a starting point.)

Second, what motivates us to act on the above?  

It is one thing to understand what orients our beliefs (something outside or inside of ourselves, a sacred text, a value system, etc) but what compels us to ACT on those beliefs? (Ex. a fear of punishment, a pursuit of the common good, the love of Christ, etc.) It is worth the space of an entire book; our motivation is VERY significant.

I grew up somewhat under the mindset that I should avoid sin or wrongdoing to avoid hell and punishment. However, I now understand that my ultimate motivation to obey Jesus is in response to the LOVE of Jesus, and in pursuit of the Kingdom of God, which I believe we both have access and contribute to here and now. Thus, obedience is a participation in reciprocal love with God, and a pursuit of the flourishing of individuals, communities, and nature as God has envisioned. Love is both the motivation and the vision. (Again, massive simplification. But I offer it as a framework/model for others.)

Third, what are the core standards for living based on our first and second answers?

I will refrain from elaborating here, as I believe this can become a place of intellectual argument rather than spiritual reflection. But whether it is the ten commandments, the sermon on the mount, Jesus’ response about the greatest commandments in Matthew 22:35-37, what are some core values, morals, and rhythms for life?

These are foundational questions that must be answered before moving on to the question of integrity. Because in our American society at present I see a tendency to pursue our stated moral and ethical beliefs by justifying actions which go against our stated beliefs. 

For instance, if we believe violence goes against the heart of God, that murder was one of the first recorded sins of the Bible, is it OK to justify violence in the pursuit of eradicating violence? 

If all are made in the image of God and are worthy of dignity, love, and grace, and compassion, can we justify treating some people inhumanely (as less than the image of God) for any reason? (In other words, can we look at the oppression, marginalization, or poor treatment of anyone as less than the oppression, marginalization or poor treatment of God?)

If we believe God calls us to standards of purity, fidelity, humility, pursuit of life, repentance (etc), can we pick and choose when those values matter to us based on when it is convenient? Is it OK to let those standards slide if we are promoting a godly outcome?

If we are called to do unto others what we would have them do to us, is it OK to make an exception to that rule for certain people? (Based on theological disagreement, citizenship, moral standing, etc?)*

*If we have to attach too many disclaimers to a core belief, maybe it isn’t a core belief after all, or maybe we must admit that we need help to live out that belief.

These are the kinds of questions that we must be asking ourselves, not only for the benefit of the world, but for the sake of our own souls. In fact, although I grew up hearing repeatedly that we must be careful about ruining our witness, that others might be led astray or reject God because of our hypocrisy or wrong actions, I’m convinced that we must first be concerned with our desire for Christ, for our own wholeness and relationship with God. Any concern with our “witness” that has more to do with external signs and less to do with internal transformation is of no value.

One of the things I’m most grieved by for Christians is that we cannot live in dissonance between our stated beliefs and our lived beliefs for long without it creating a rift in our reality, a severing of our soul. 

The more we justify what we don’t believe in order to achieve what we do believe in, the more our faith and fidelity are fractured. We cannot live wholly, integrated, before God, with others in relationship, if we are pursuing two different versions of morality, two different versions of righteousness, two different versions of love. It rips us apart, it leads to confusion and apathy, it leads us to build a house or kingdom that appears godly but has a corrupt foundation. Anything DIVIDED, whether our convictions, congregations, or our kingdom, cannot stand.

We cannot experience the robust and abundant life that Jesus desires for us as individuals and communities, or the full joy of maturing in the fruit of God’s Spirit if we are trying to magnify and mute the Word at the same time.

But not only is inconsistent moral application jeopardizing our integrity, so is comparative justification.  

So often when I see someone bring up a woe or injustice on facebook about the “other side” (whether political, personal, etc), the responses to that post are quite often comparative rather than reflective.

In other words, when someone accuses the Republican party of dehumanizing people, someone will respond by saying, “Well where was your outrage when the Democratic party dehumanized people!!”

Or if the Democratic party is accused of not valuing life, perhaps they respond by saying, “Well here’s where YOU don’t value life!!”

The problem with these arguments is not necessarily that they are WRONG. (We can say something that seems right and miss God’s righteousness.) Rather, the problem is that these questions deflect rather than reflect, and they avoid naming WHAT is wrong by instead blaming WHO is wrong (spoiler: it’s all of us.)

When someone is lamenting inhumane treatment, unjust suffering, the plight of the poor, a brokenness of a system or situation, then trying to turn the blame doesn’t heal or solve anything, it basically just says, “I don’t have to address my potential complicity in injustice, my potential short-sightedness, or my potential responsibility to act because someone else is not willing to do those things.”

This is what my children do. They don’t see a need to address their part in an argument, a wrong, a family dysfunction, because “someone else started it” or “someone else did not follow the rules first”. I have never seen my children resolve their relationship, their toy dispute, or their shotgun claim by pointing fingers, and it won’t save us adults either.

Yes, sometimes it is easier for us to see the inconsistencies, the compromise, in someone else and not ourselves, and it isn’t wrong to speak into these places. (I couldn’t be writing here today otherwise.) But if we are honest with ourselves, honest with God, is our DEFAULT posture deflection or reflection? Is our default response to be outraged by the hypocrisy of others but never to look for it in ourselves? How can we call out inconsistencies in others if we are not bothered by our own?

My heart has been grieved and angered by injustice I have seen lately. And while certainly this post does not adequately address or bluntly boycott all of the things that break the heart of God, it is my own breaking of silence, responding to a nudge of conviction in my own soul. 

I point to my own complicity, my own shortcomings, my own passivity, my own desire to justify myself rather than actually address wrongs. But enough of this.

May we be people who sit long at the feet of Jesus, who are so steeped in His vast love for us and for others, that we practice costly compassion rather than cheap criticism. Maybe we be those who welcome both the grace of correction and the grace of forgiveness from Christ, knowing that God disciplines in love, for our good. May we be those who are willing to let God’s Spirit make us integrated and whole in ourselves (where our lives match our beliefs) even as we seek to become integrated (whole, operating as one body, loving others as we are loved) within the body of Christ.

May God’s Kingdom come.