1 post tagged “intergrity”
There is a phrase that dropped out of the heavens into corporate America…the phrase goes like this: “Eat your own Dog Food.”
It’s a freaky kind of saying, especially in the light of all that has gone on with the recall of pet food. However, the phrase is still around and I imagine will be around for some time.
In its essence, “Eat your own Dog Food” has to do with the word integrity. If a company, a person, or a church can’t choke down the very words they espouse they might as well not be saying them at all [Which might be bad news for the pet food corporations...Let us all beware lest we should be in the same boat]. I don’t know about you, but my more judgmental side says that there are quite a few politicians that could stand bearing this phrase in their daily appetite of public communication.
As I said, I believe the origins have to do with integrity. A powerful thing, integrity is. General Krulak, recently retired Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps had this to say on the matter:
Integrity as we know it today stands for soundness of moral principle and character -- uprightness -- honesty. Yet there is more .... Integrity is also an ideal .... A goal to strive for, and for a man or woman to "walk in their integrity" is to require constant discipline and usage. The word integrity itself is a martial word that comes to us from an ancient Roman army tradition.
During the time of the 12 Caesars, the Roman army would conduct morning inspections. As the inspecting Centurion would come in front of each Legionnaire, the soldier would strike with his right fist the armor breastplate that covered his heart. The armor had to be strongest there in order to protect the heart from the sword thrusts and from arrow strikes. As the soldier struck his armor, he would shout "integritas" (in-teg-ri-tas), which in Latin means material wholeness, completeness and entirety. The inspecting centurion would listen closely for this affirmation and also for the ring that well kept armor would give off. Satisfied that the armor was sound and that the soldier beneath it was protected, he would then move on to the next man.
At about the same time, the Praetorians or Imperial Bodyguard were ascending into power and influence. Drawn from the best "politically correct" soldiers of the legions, they received the finest equipment and armor. They no longer had to shout "integritas" (in-teg-ri-tas) to signify that their armor was sound. Instead, as they struck their breastplate, they would shout "Hail Caesar," to signify that their heart belonged to the Imperial personage -- not to their unit -- not to an institution -- not to a code of ideals. They armored themselves to serve the cause of a single man.
Some of you may ask, “What has this to do with “Good Friday?” [After all, this is my Good Friday Sermon]
Glad you asked!
We live in a Darwinian dog-eat-dog world, where only the hungry succeed. It was no different in the canine culture in Jesus' day. Political realities made people hungry for the truth - - or at least their perception of it. As in our time when truth often matters less than political expediency, people were barking and biting on the day Jesus stood before Pilate.
Truth, however, in order to be the Truth must begin with integrity and, for the Christian, in love. You see, the other side of the truth was that Jesus didn’t do anything against Roman law. Pilate, who's no simpleton, knows this. Yet he's in a bit of a political jam. He smells what's in the wind and he's not about to eat his own dog food. He'll leave that meal to Jesus.
Eating his own dog food would mean setting Jesus free, resisting the clamor of the horde, maybe causing some sort of spontaneous uprising, something to be avoided at any cost -- which ironically, was one of the worries of the temple leaders about Jesus himself, leaders who now use the possibility of an uprising to their own advantage. Politics, politics ... everything is politics.
Like Pilate we know the truth about Jesus. Yet the truth we know about him isn't the truth Pilate knows. Pilate knows Jesus is innocent of any crime. Pilate also knows who fills his dinner dish, who pours his gravy, who holds his leash. He chooses his master. And we choose ours, since we know Jesus was, Jesus is -- The Christ.
So we choose Christ. What does it mean, then, for a Christian to eat his own dog food? More often than not it means living lives in witness to the truth of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. It also means fessing up when we fall short of the mark.
The world waits on tip-toe to see the sons and daughters of God and to find out what all the fuss of 2,000 of proclaiming Jesus is all about. To know God we must choose to live God, to practice the presence of God. And to know faith we must live faith. To do that we have to understand what it is we do believe, which is why it is so important to gather on Sunday mornings to consume the Word, to draw together in fellowship, to drink the water of life from the same bowl -- in short, to eat our own dog food.
Charles Moore, in his article "The Powerful Witness of Community," Beyond Argument, found at www.gospelcom.net tells the following story to make my point. He says:
Alan and I met 20 years ago. We were both students at Cal Poly. I was a freshman and he was a junior. As a physics major, Alan was both intelligent and articulate. How Alan got on with his studies, however, is still a mystery to me; Alan was virtually blind. He could see well enough to get from one place to another all right, but when it came to reading it was a different story. I can still see Alan, his face two inches away from some text, arduously pecking away at each of his assignments. Alan not only got straight A's, but he later returned to Cal Poly as a physics instructor.
Although Jewish in background, Alan was extremely skeptical of anything religious, especially Christian. He was well read and well versed, and he argued his doubt like a scientist. Alan believed that Christianity was unable to pass the methodological requirements of science. He therefore pled agnostic; there simply wasn't enough evidence to warrant belief in God. As a fledgling freshman, I, along with several others, tried to show him how, in fact, there was ample evidence for Christianity's truth. There were not only the facts of fulfilled prophecy and the reliability of the New Testament documents, but also the testimony of creation. Wasn't that sufficient? Not for Alan. ...Alan was usually happy to discuss religious subjects, which always gave us Christians some hope. But even more intriguing was how he liked to hang out with us. Alan didn't have many friends. He was rather unattractive, much too serious, and totally dependent on others for any kind of transportation. But we tried to reach out to him as best we could. Alan knew he could come with us to the beach or on our recurrent midnight runs to Taco Bell. We tried to include Alan in anything we were doing.
One evening something happened. Though I wasn't there at the time, a bunch of friends had gotten together for a praise night on the beach. Alan came along to enjoy the sunset and roaring bonfire. By the time the evening was over, Alan had made a commitment to follow Jesus. No one had spoken to him, nor did anyone even know. The next day he came to me to tell me what had happened.
"But, Alan," I said, "what made you decide?"
"You see, Chuck," he told me, "it came to me last night, while everyone was singing around the fire, that whenever I am around you Christians I am happy. Even when we disagree with each other, I find myself liking to be with Christians."
"But, Alan, I thought you were never going to become a believer unless there was first enough evidence."
"Yes, Chuck," he replied, "and I still require it. But that's precisely why I now believe. It's how you all love each other that strikes me most. I never considered that evidence before. A good scientist, you know, considers all the facts. I simply haven't found the love you Christians have for each other anywhere else. That's evidence enough for me that Jesus is Lord."
Like sly curs who can somehow differentiate a trustworthy person from an untrustworthy one, the spiritual seekers of the 21st century are not going to be attracted to a church that doesn't eat its own dog food, much less follow Jesus to the cross. They'll sniff out the hypocrisy on the wind quicker than a Norwegian Elkhound scents a black bear.
Dogs can't be fooled the way people can. A dog senses fear. A dog hears what we can't hear, smells what we can't smell. A dog might eat anything and roll in dead fish believing it is perfume, but a dog will never trust a person, or a group of people, or a church of people, who prove untrustworthy, who prove hypocritical and insincere.
Champion Christians adhere to the truth -- unflinchingly. They eat their own dog food. Amen.
Source: Homiletics.com
