As we have recently seen in the news and witnessed a firestorm on social media, much attention has been drawn to the longstanding issue in our country around sexual harassment, particularly sexual misconduct in the work place. Women primarily but also men has suffered silently for years under the humiliation of being accosted and having sexual advancements made by employers and fellow co-workers. More and more victims of harassment and violations of dignity have become publicized. Well known actors, movie and film producers, corporate execs, television celebrities, government officials, and even church leaders are being ousted for private indiscretions they presumed they would never be held culpable. A vast number of chickens are coming home to roost and it has pulled the covers off our country particularly around how men in power use that power to bribe and groom women toward sexual forays.
While ample and necessary attention in both secular culture and in the Body of Christ the principle of sowing and reaping has been in full effect. That everything done in the dark will eventually and inevitably be exposed by the light of truth in Christ. For too long many have lived in denial of the universal principle of sowing and reaping; that any disparity in my private versus public life will not be brought into the open nor will I or should I be held accountable or deserve to suffer the ramifications of my hypocrisy. Sometime it takes years for someone to get their comeuppance and this has been the case in many of these sexual harassment allegations and prosecutions.
There is a very interesting passage of scripture which speaks to the human sinful proclivity to commit wrong action especially when consequences are delayed. It reads as follows:
Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God because they fear before him. But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God (Ecclesiastes 8:10-13).
What drives integrity is the fear of the Lord. To revere God is at the core of a person’s depth or shallowness of a person’s integrity. We see in this passage that the more we get away with the more we attempt to get away with. A non-applied consequence to a wrong action is viewed the same as the approval of right action. If the strength of our integrity is predicated upon whether we will experience immediate negative consequences, our integrity will always be poor and lacking. It also reinforces the delusion that our integrity is strong because apparently it seems as though we continue to be rewarded in spite of our sins. Our integrity must have as its source and fuel the fact that we live before a God who sees all and cares about every decision and choice we make, and that we will be held accountable for our choices both great and small.
I believe we are seeing on a national level a harvest of unrighteous that was sown in indecency and impropriety. Individuals whose lives are on display publicly are spotlighted to bring attention to a wider and prevalent problem in our society which the church is unfortunately included.
Lack of integrity is cost believers their witness. From the world’s standpoint our hypocrisy calls into question the credibility of our Savior whom we preach and evangelize. Paul himself says that the name of Christ is blasphemed among unbelievers because of our hypocrisy (Rom. 2:2). We are saying one thing that should be adhered to by all while doing either the very same thing in a different context or a permutation of the thing we say we oppose. We must raise the moral bar by synchronizing all areas of our life to conform to Christ. We must be people who embody covenant faithfulness through integrity and trustworthiness.