Integrity

The latest scandal comes from the NFL and involves the New England Patriots. They have been accused of intentionally deflating footballs to gain a competitive advantage in their game against our beloved Indianapolis Colts. If you've been on any social media site lately, here's a little about what's being said...

Some call it cheating. I call it 'getting an edge.' #DeflateGate
— Sports Dad (@Sports_Father) May 6, 2015

.@tthasselbeck: "whether it's a big cheat or a little cheat, it's cheating. Plain and simple." #DeflateGate
— T.J. Holmes (@tjholmes) May 6, 2015

I'm not going to take a stand on whether they cheated or not (although "it is more probable than not"). I'm more interested in the questions that this brings up. My son has been following this whole thing and asked me if cheaters never win, why did the Patriots win the Super Bowl? Uh... Great question son... You see, well...

How do we explain a fallen world to a nine year old? All I could come up with was the truth. Sometimes cheaters do prosper. Sometimes you can work harder and sacrifice more than the other guy who cheats and wins. We've all seen stories about people who lied and cheated their way to the top of the social and economic ladder. They stepped on many people and destroyed many lives on their way to success. It happens and there really isn't much we can do about it. This is what it means to live in a fallen world.

It's very easy to look at that success and follow the same path, but there is a cost. There is a cost to your soul and to your relationships. The bible tells us in Proverbs 20:17 "Food gained by fraud tastes sweet, but one ends up with a mouth full of gravel." Meaning that while it may work at first to deceive people and get ahead eventually it will catch up with you, in this life or in the next. Most of the successful people I know are not cheaters. They are people with a great amount of integrity and value relationships above their own material needs. They are hard-working and extremely dedicated.

Instead of focusing on the benefits (and high potential costs) of being dishonest, let's look into why people do what they do. Jesus talks about this in the book of Luke:

“A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart."

As Christians grow in their relationship with Jesus, they begin to have their heart, their nature, transformed to produce good fruit. We don't try to act nice, go out of our way to love people or give money to people in need to show the world how great we are. We do these things because our very nature has been transformed by Jesus, we produce good fruit.

So I guess what we're asking is... What does your fruit look like?