Soul Integrity
Lysa has decided there are four categories of unglued reactions. You can read my last post here
- Exploders who shame themselves
- Exploders who blame others
- Stuffers who build barriers
- Stuffers who collect retaliation rocks
no matter how “kind” of a person we are, we will still have these unglued moments.
Soul integrity is honesty that’s godly. It brings the passion of the exploder and the peacemaking of the stuffer under the authority of Jesus.
A Balance… in everything balance is key and our emotions is no different. When we explode we embrace the honesty by how we are truly feeling, but miss the godly peacemaking. We can be honest with how we feel and still exaggerate or misinterpret what is factually true. This may just be emotional spewing. That is why we need godly honesty; honesty reined in by the Holy Spirit.
Just as we shouldn’t always be blatant about our feelings, we should not be fake.When we stuff and pretend everything is ok we are not being honest. We may be keeping the peace but we are missing the honesty factor. We will end up harboring those feelings and building up barriers, and bitterness. Over time the eruption may be extreme!
Truth and godliness always walk hand in hand.
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. – James 3:7-8
Self effort alone cannot tame the tongues and our raw emotions that run wild. Here’s what James says about the exploders.
7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?12 Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring. (NLT)
Then James also lets us know how to recover when we do fail, because honestly we all do.
3 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.
When we are humble, we realize our honesty can’t be one-sided. We try to see other people’s perspective. We stop and think about what we say before we just spout it off. Here is some wisdom for the stuffer.
14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
The harboring James is talking about is rooted in envy and selfish ambition. Bitter and selfish. Protecting ourselves from the conflicts we don’t want to deal with. That self protection quickly turns into selfishness.
17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.
Sincere! Being a true peacemaking reaps a harvest of great qualities in our lives right things, godly things, healthy things.
18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.
Go to the Lord and ask Him where in the four you are. You may be in all of them. Ask Him to show you what He wants you to learn.
Extraordinary Jeni 