This morning Laurence Singlehurst taught at our local church.
The underlying point of his talk was that without integrity our society will collapse.
He pointed out that British society is generally very cynical about the people who rule over us, illustrated by the joke about telling that a politician is lying by observing their lips move.
This cynicism has led to our society being sceptical about the motives of those around us, business, marketing, bosses, leaders. We now tend to assume that they have aims to benefit themselves at the expense of the ordinary people like us.
Our society needs to change; and big change comes though small changes. We need a change deep within people where they stop living for themselves and stop being selfish.
Society is given to pleasure-seeking, but in the past it was more about doing the right thing. We need to swing the pendulum back towards what is right.
Perhaps we need to start living for an altruistic goal, for a bigger ideal than our own pleasure. Business should be for the benefit of society, not just to line the pockets of shareholders.
And where does this all start?
In the heart of YOU. (And me.)
We the church need a greater passion for the people around us.
If Jesus died for everybody, then everybody is as valuable as Jesus.
Laurence suggested that every Christian should see themselves as a secret pastor. We all have our own small congregation of friends, family, work colleagues. We need to love them and care for them, but exhibit integrity in every area of our lives.
So there’s the challenge:
How far does the love of your church go?
How far does your love go?