By Mark A. Taylor
The October issue of CHRISTIAN STANDARD is devoted to the theme of integrity. As we finish making final corrections before sending it to the printer this week, I know it contains some of the best material we”ve ever published.
Surely the issue will prompt soul-searching in every reader. In a world characterized by concern for image management more than private goodness, even Christians too often fail to walk their talk.
But a question has come to me in recent days that we do not consider in those pages. What do we do with integrity failures we see in the people around us? And how do we react when we believe a leader”s integrity is lacking?
Here I”m not thinking of the gross and grievous sins that we hear about far too often. Adultery. Fraud. Theft. Our October issue does contain apt advice from Alan Ahlgrim for what to do when a leader succumbs to such a fall.
But I”m thinking now of shortcomings in another category. How should we respond when we believe a leader has made a bad choice, spoken when he should have been silent, ignored someone who needed his attention, or le
d the church in a direction that seems clearly to be a mistake?
Do such errors prove this leader lacks integrity?
I don”t think so.
I”ve been in ministry and around ministers for more than four decades. I”ve had the privilege of knowing some of the finest Christian leaders on earth. But I can say this: Any one of them I”ve been close to at all (and some who were just acquaintances) sooner or later disappointed me. Each of them demonstrated a foible or failing that makes them less than ideal.
Integrity, by definition, means whole, complete, with no part lacking. But every Christian leader I know, even in spite of inherent goodness and godliness, must compensate for some deficit, some weakness, some measure of brokenness.
And so must I.
So I”ve decided that evaluating my integrity is a far more constructive quest than critiquing the integrity quotient in someone else. When confronted by blind spots and blunders of others trying to serve God, my first thought will not be to question their integrity, but to forgive them. The closer I grow to God, the greater the distance I see between his ideal and my reality. I can only assume the leaders in my life are coming to the same realization.
The theme of our October issue is “Chasing after Integrity.” For every leader, the determination to keep pursuing integrity is one measure of how much of it they”ve already achieved. If I must evaluate, I”ll look not for perfection, but for that pursuit.
Get the October issue next week for your tablet or phone. Download the free CHRISTIAN STANDARD app to see how.
A leader’s infallibility, integrity, or other faultlessness is not the issue, nor should it ever be. However, their humility is, as well as their repentance. We all follow the King.