Listening to the voice on the phone, I felt the tears well up in my eyes as the other person wept. A missionary was telling me about something they had done to satisfy their own desires, and now it was tearing their family apart. Their family, their ministry, their team and community were all shattered.
Unfortunately, this situation wasn’t the only time I have witnessed what a lack of integrity and purity does to a ministry. The stress and spiritual warfare involved in mission makes missionaries susceptible to temptation, and the consequences can be terrible.
When we talk about integrity, politicians have a bad reputation. For many people outside of the church, pastors and missionaries aren’t thought of much more highly than a politician. Unfortunately, we have seen many people in religious roles fall short, sometimes diabolically, from the ideal of what they should be. History has shown us that as humans we don’t like to admit our inadequacies, our sin. So at times, the church has covered up the sins of Christians in order to preserve our reputation. This is not integrity.
The Bible teaches a level of morality that can’t be met by any human (we have all sinned and fallen short) and demonstrates a depth of grace that is hard to emulate. As Christians we are all called to be followers of Christ, being holy as He is holy and demonstrating His love for all people in our words and actions.
Mission work is all about bringing the message and love of Christ in all its fullness to places and people who don’t yet know Him. This means that sometimes a missionary’s life is the only example of Christianity in that community. Now let’s be honest, I’m yet to meet a perfect missionary. And those that start off looking pretty good, under the stress of cross-cultural ministry, eventually appear more human. None of us is perfect and no missionary deserves their own pedestal, but living life with integrity and purity is a key part of the message we bring.
When looking for new missionaries, we aren’t looking for perfection. Rather, we want to find people who have the humility to recognise their shortcomings and a willingness to learn and grow towards holiness.
Integrity means we don’t pretend that we have already achieved holiness and are fully living out all that God wants in our lives. It also means that we aren’t content to remain where we are, but are always looking to go deeper with God and allow Him to transform us. We want to be moving towards holiness even if we aren’t there yet.
So practically, what does this mean?
Seeking holiness – even against the norm
We need to be striving towards holiness in our life, even if it isn’t the normal cultural practices of the people around us.
Acknowledging sin
We need to acknowledge the things going on in our lives that fall short of what we should be. This could include some sort of addictive behaviour (food, shopping, pornography etc.), it could be our emotional reactions and the way we relate to people. It could be a tendency to put our own interests before the interests of others or our desire to control a situation, jealousy, gossip or anything else that is not Christ-like.
Confessing sin
We need to confess our shortcomings to God and pray, asking for His help to transform us.
Repenting of sin
We then need to identify what we can do towards changing ourselves and to seek help from others to hold us accountable. This may mean avoiding the things that trigger us or having an accountability partner who can challenge us about things. It may mean slowing down and considering things from a different point of view before taking action or working on changing our thought patterns. Whatever it is, we also have a part to play. We need to put in some effort to make changes.
Forgiving ourselves and trusting God
We need to be aware that change is a process and we will fall again, but God will continue to forgive us and work with us towards completion. In acknowledging that, we need to forgive ourselves each time we fall. We can trust in the wonderful graciousness of our God.
Next steps
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – Romans 3:23
Reflect on the ways that you have fallen short of what the Bible teaches about sin. Can you identify your sin and do you know what need that sin is trying to fill? (Read Galatians 5:19-21, Colossians 3:8-9, Matthew 19:16-21)
Find resources that focus on your key issues and prayerfully work through them. If your struggle is an addictive behaviour, check out these resources. https://vimeo.com/53050284
Covenant Eyes https://www.covenanteyes.com
Find someone who can hold you accountable and who you can openly talk to about your struggles. Make sure it is a person who encourages change towards holiness.
