If there is anything that this call from 2 Cor 8.7 means it is a call to total and complete frankness. As a Christian we should be absolutely "WYSIWYG" as they say in web design. What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) is the removal of hidden agendas and hypocrisies. This, of course, does not mean that follower of Jesus is perfect in any way- only that he is a person of integrity. Saying what he means, and not denying what is obvious to others. This sense of integrity or "wholeness" is the recognition that the standards and commands of Christ that we know we are not INTENTIONALLY ignoring.
As God communicates divine truth to us we immediately begin to digest that truth (be it revealed in scripture or through a friend, etc.) The goal of that digesting process is to so internalize that word that we adapt all of our actions to its demands. Though the process is an arduous and difficult one- it has the highest value in that it forms us into the character of God. The shaping and formative character of our response to the Word is often ignored by people in the church who expect that God is going to change them by some mysterious and miraculous feat. We seek in all earnestness, to shape our hearts after the God who revealed himself in scripture and in the cross.
When the church becomes absolutely earnest and puts away its phony and self protecting walls then the rest of the world will look upon us with respect. While not all will come to Christ- many in this world hunger for a real and integral spirituality. What do you think?
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