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By Barry Buzza
[other pieces by By Barry Buzza]
Last week I wrote about the virtue of integrity and its opposite-duplicity. Do you remember the story of Little Red Riding Hood? It was written by Charles Perrault in the 18th century as a sermon for children. One of the main characters of the fable, the big bad wolf, was the quintessential duplistic villain.
You'll recall his first meeting with little Red Riding Hood in the forest where he feigned interest in her journey. Just as the drama climaxed he fell even deeper into the trap of duplicity when he pretended to be the sweet grandmother. Of course if he had integrity, the wolf would have been as pure inside as he pretended to be outside. Then he would not have died, he would have lived. What we are on the inside determines the very course of our life.
King Solomon wrote, A godly man is one who walks in his integrity-how blessed are his sons after him.
The word godly is an abbreviated form of the longer word God-like. In the beginning God created man and woman in his image and in his likeness. When Adam and Eve decided to walk away from God, outside of his presented boundaries, they retained the image of God. They were still spiritual, creative, communicative, artistic, moral, futuristic, historic, and relational. They possessed characteristics of their Creator which superseded all other of God's creatures.
But when our distant foreparents became independent of God (so they thought), they at once lost their God-likeness (godliness).
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You've heard the expression, "He's a spitting image of his dad!"? I know someone like that. If you met this guy and his father, you'd be immediately struck by their similarity of looks and personality. But when you get to know them you'd realize how unalike these two men really are. The younger man is the image of his dad, but behaves nothing like him. That's what happened to Adam and Eve and all of their children (including you and me) who followed them. We became ungodly.
The man or woman who desires to be successful has to start by re-aligning himself with God's character. Then we begin a new life, which is centered in our learning to be God-like again.
Duplicity is well illustrated in the TV reality show Survivor. This 16th season that just finished with Parvati Shallow rising as the million dollar winner was a showcase of deceit. The four women who lasted to the finish, blatantly lied, manipulated and tricked their male competitors one after another. Even though the men were in great physical shape, very smart and even had the protection of immunity, the women gobbled them up like a black widow spider does to her victims. After each victory they grinned like Cheshire cats.
Of course, Survivor, is a game based on the success of the most manipulative future-thinkers, but it does provide an excellent picture of duplicity. Real life off the island will not be won the same way. When our inside character and outside behaviour are not in harmony, failure will ultimately follow. Remember the proverb-there's a blessing that follows. A godly man is one who walks in his integrity-how blessed are his sons after him.
Barry Buzza, a veteran pastor, is the president elect of the The Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada. www.foursquare.ca
July 3/2008
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