My Sunday Devotional to you

By Mark Jackson [ MJ in my PJ's]

Today I have a few thoughts running through my head as I try to share a meaningful devotional with you. One of course is the people in Haiti. May the Father hear all our prayers. But also is the thought of doing the right thing at all times. When there is tragedy some see it as opportunity for unethical gain. The rest is food for our collective thoughts.

Some online dictionaries report each year on what words were looked up the most on their site. For 2005, some of the most popular words were refugee, pandemic, tsunami, and levee. Because of worldwide catastrophic events that year, we can readily understand why those words were checked.

The most popular lookup for the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary for 2005r was the word integrity. The definition given is: “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values.” It’s used to describe those who are unwilling to be bribed or morally corrupted. Why was that word on the top of the list? Could it be because integrity is so lacking that many don’t know what it looks like in someone’s life?

The word God gave us has an example of integrity in the life of Joseph. Potiphar had put Joseph in charge of overseeing “his house and all that he had” (Gen. 39:5). When he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife, Joseph refused, saying, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (v.9). Potiphar knew what God’s standards were, and he chose to stand for the right—at the cost of his freedom.

Integrity, look it up in Genesis 39. Then live it out in God’s strength. Consider, in what ways have you been a person of integrity when it was tough? When have you failed? Whose standards do you live by? What do you need to change?

I have asked my self these same questions. This sinner needs a lot of work. As the phrase goes, I fall short of the glory of God. Let’s all go live a life where our legacy is rich with integrity.

See you next Sunday,

MJ