A couple was speeding down the highway when a State Trooper pulled them over. He asked the man to step out of the car and show him his license. The trooper asked, “Did you realize you were going 85 miles an hour back there?”

       The man said, “Officer that would be impossible. I’m the most law-abiding driver you’ve ever seen. I never exceed the speed limit, no matter my circumstances.”

The policeman leaned into the window of the car and asked the wife “Is that true?”

       “No Officer, it’s not, he drives like a maniac, he speeds wherever he goes, his driving scares me to death.”

The policeman wrote out a ticket. Then he said, “I also noticed you didn’t have your seat belt on, which is against the law in this state.”

       “Officer,” the man said, “with all due respect, I value life too highly. Buckle up, that’s my motto.“

The policeman asked the wife, “Is that true? “

       “Are you kidding? I’ve never seen him wear the thing, you’d probably find cobwebs in his seat belt.”

The policeman began to write him another ticket. About that time, the man leaned in the window and screamed, “Woman, what are you trying to do to me? Keep your big fat nose out of my business!“

The officer said, “Ma’am, does he always talk to you like that?”

       She replied, “Only when he’s drunk.”

We laugh at stories like this.  Part of God’s will for you is to create authentic integrity.  Others walked this path and so will you, if you enter into His process.

   Did you know that several of the Bible’s greatest “heroes of the faith” were liars?

• Abraham lied to the Egyptian Pharaoh saying that his wife Sarah was actually his sister….then did it again with another king.
• Jacob lied to his father Isaac saying that he was actually his brother Esau, so he could receive the blessing meant for the eldest son.
• Peter lied to the servants and soldiers surrounding the fire outside the trial room where Jesus-Peter’s friend, teacher and Lord-was being tried, convicted and sentenced to the cross, saying, “I tell you I never knew the man!”
• Paul, after his own fashion, was so blinded by his own arrogance that he sought to suppress the Truth of Jesus Christ.

      However, the Holy Spirit can work miracles and change a liar into a person of integrity

• Abraham came to a point and place in his life when he was able to trust God for everything, even the life of his beloved son Isaac.
• Jacob, after a night of wrestling with God, was able to trust God with everything he had, and so he returned to face his brother Esau whom he had cheated and betrayed.
• Peter was able to trust God before the same crowd that had called for Jesus’ crucifixion when he stood up at Pentecost to proclaim the same name he had denied a mere 50 days before.
• Paul, who called himself “abnormally born” because he persecuted the Church, eventually wrote: “I preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

Allow the Lord to so move in your life in 2012 that integrity becomes the foundational cornerstone of your life!   What He has done for others, He will do for you. 

Blessings,

Pastor