Authenticity — “The real deal” — What-you-see-is-what-you-get — INTEGRITY

No posing, no posturing, no pretending.

I totally value this in my own life and in those I know.  Or do I really know them?(!)

But sometimes things and people aren’t always what they seem.

Such as in the going-away party we went to last week for special friends.  As you can see from this picture, there was quite a spread.

Grilled beef burgers, sausages, green peppers in the tin, soy burgers, black bean burgers on the left, on the right…

…wait a minute– those only LOOK like burgers–  they’re really PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS!  As in VEGETABLE!  

Don’t get me wrong– I love vegetables– all kinds!  

But putting them on the same kind of plate, with the same kind of shape and color, right next to all the burgers?  

–>It’s as if they’re pretending to be something they’re not, just so they can fit in with those around them!

What if someone were to take one, put it in a bun, add the condiments, and chow in– only to discover…?! 🙂

That someone isn’t going to be too happy when they find out the truth.

Just like people aren’t too happy when WE pretend to be something WE’RE NOT just to fit in!  Once they discover the truth, and they will at some point, we’re going to be in trouble.

Because when we are not what we appear to be, we let people down.  They’re expecting something from us that we looked like we could be or do, but then we don’t come through.  It’s worse yet when we actually verbally promise something and then don’t keep our promise.

   Prov. 25:14 says—“Like clouds and wind without rain
    is one who boasts of gifts never given.” 

Have you ever had someone promise to bring or lend you something you need and then they and it aren’t there when you need them?  Have you ever had someone promise to contact you with necessary information but they never do? 

Have you ever seen someone boast of an ability to do something that really needs to get done—so you count on them—only to discover they can’t or won’t do it?

Have you ever been that someone?  Hopefully not! 

Prov. 11:3 tells it straight:  “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”

C.S. Lewis once defined integrity as “doing the right thing even when no one is watching.” 

If we look good, let’s be good.  That will keep us out of trouble and out of worrying about being “found out”. 

How to have integrity? 

~Quit worrying about what other people think or might think.

~Be more concerned about being the best you possibly can be— for the sake     of others, not the approval of others.

Better to just be ourselves so we could be accepted for who we are!  Rather than worry about being rejected when others find out.  Or be accepted for who we’re not– which would mean we’re still not really accepted– as us.

People either like mushrooms or they don’t.  People will either like us or they won’t.  

And it’s more likely they will if we’re honest about it. 

Who are you—really?