If you were trying to build a team (a sports team, a business team, a class, or even a family,) what would you most want to emphasize and engrain in them? For some it would be loyalty. For others it would be unity. Some would focus on service, while others would focus on success.
When God is trying to build a nation, He emphasizes two things: inspiration and integrity. These are the two supporting “I” beams for God’s people…and for any people.
Inspiration is living life under the influence of God’s Spirit and direction. Integrity is living a life of influence by demonstrating honesty, respect, justice, and concern for others.
Both inspiration and integrity are important, because inspiration is the fuel for integrity and integrity is the demonstration of our inspiration.
Numbers chapter 5 deals with the need for integrity in the areas of physical well being, social well being, and relational well being…particularly in the realm of marriage. When integrity slips in these areas, a group or a nation stands in peril. How timely this is for us today!
Why wold God emphasize these areas of inspiration and integrity? Because a failure in integrity is an act of unfaithfulness to God (Num. 5:6), and thus a breach of inspiration. The two supporting “I” beams of inspiration and integrity stand or fall together.
How are the “I” beams of your life? What would God have you do to strengthen both your inspiration and integrity?
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.