Integrity

Two and a half years ago we moved to a new home and ever since then my beautiful oak dresser has not been the same, the doors were all sticking and catching. It made me sad. I had the contact details of a furniture renovator who has a very good reputation and I telephoned him to ask for his help.

He told me to put a spirit level on it as it was probably due to the floor being uneven and to check that out first, otherwise he would come. Well I did put a spirit level on it and it seemed fine but I knew that it was no use asking him to come until I had emptied out the whole dresser and properly checked the levels. To be honest I really didn’t believe that this was the problem; preferring to believe it must have been damaged in the move.

One of the blessings of the current ‘lockdown’ is that we have time, so this week I finally got around to emptying the dresser and checking it and to my amazement discovered that putting a 2mm piece of felt under one of the feet solved the problem and all the doors and drawers open and close perfectly.

I am so delighted to have my lovely dresser back straight and true. It made me think about our lives before God, there seemed to be a parable here. My dresser still looked fine and it is solid and strong. That is how we want our relationship with God to be and maybe that is how we hope it is. But I was shocked to find how much difference such a small distortion made to the dresser. How can we make sure that this is not happening in our lives so that we can, like today’s verse, be transformed and not conformed to the distortions of the world.

Well I was asking God about this and I remembered that Jesus had said, in John 14:6, that He is the way, the truth and the life. He also said, in John 8:32, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The spirit level I used to check my dresser didn’t give me a true answer and did not show up that the dresser was distorted, but Jesus is the truth and He has integrity.

If we stay close to Him, with hearts and minds open to Him, we will be renewed and transformed as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:18, ‘And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit’. So, just as I needed to listen to the wisdom of the furniture restorer, we need to listen to the Restorer of our Souls, the One whose wisdom will renew our minds.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I look to You and ask You to root out any distortions in me and my beliefs which are not in line with Your truth so that my mind may be renewed and I may be transformed increasingly to Your likeness. Amen.