By: The Rt. Rev Derek Jones

It seems simple enough, doesn’t it? That when scripture (Matt 5:37) says, “let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’, and your ‘no,’ ‘no’…” that we’re to understand personal integrity is demanded of everyone who claims Jesus as Lord. And as this particular study falls on the week when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Christians with full integrity will confess with their mouth, “…He is
risen, indeed! Alleluia!” It is a most wonderful reality that Jesus Christ, after dying for us on the cross, conquered death and was raised to life. It seems appropriate then as we reflect on the resurrection of Jesus Christ that we think, too, on some simple truths from scripture.

I Corinthians 15:17 tells us, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Romans 5:6-9 reminds us, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to diebut God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”

There is another verse that carries great weight as we consider the death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord found in Romans 10:9-10. And while there are Christians who wish to read and interpret this passage as some obligatory, singular confessional event, I think it is important to remember that Jesus, himself, says to us that confession and belief is a daily discipline in Matthew 10:32-33. “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before
men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” This isn’t to say that there isn’t a point in time at which we all must confess and believe so that we might receive God’s salvation through Jesus Christ, but integrity demands that we speak truthfully to our family, friends, and coworkers – in fact, everyone we meet – about our faith in Jesus Christ, daily confessing with our mouth and believing in
our hearts. The Gospel message is to be proclaimed… our words, everyday, reflective of the integrity of our confession, and our lives daily surrendered to God.