Integrity 101

What's in a name? If I say to you the name Jeff Gatlin what do you think of? There are those who think of the little kid Jeff, who at times got into trouble. What about the athlete who played baseball, basketball and football? Or the youth pastor of almost 10 years, or the pastor of over 2 years now. How about the new Jeff Gatlin pastorcoachJeff? I spend ample time wearing a hundred different hats from Alexa's dad, to P.J.'s dad, to Dave and Tommie Jean's son, to Tara's husband. From Pastor Jeff, to Youth Pastor Jeff, to Pedro's football team Pastor Jeff, and ofcourse who can forget St. Augustine High girls' softball team's Coach Jeff.
All those titles are nice, but the most important thing is what do you think of when you see those words or hear the name? It changes with time doesn't it, what we think of when we hear a certain name changes with time.
Think about celebrities, we change what we think of when it comes to celebrities quite often. We thought we knew a lot of the athletes who are letting us down, and pop stars who are falling into scandal, and politicians are doing the same. Here's a name for you Bill Clinton, what do you truly think of when you hear that name? Or how about one that started strong and is in the pits right now? Tiger Woods, we thought we knew him, we thought we had him tagged with integrity and family values. Parents trusted him being a role model for their kids. He has fallen and fallen hard.
The bottom line is one slip can take away all the integrity and change forever how people think of you. Paul completely understood this. He started of every letter he wrote which make up the majority of the new testament now, with a salutation that listed himself in relation to God.
He didn't introduce himself as Paul the man who reached the Jews and Gentiles, or the apostle of the thousands, or the greatest church starter of his time. No, he simply introduced himself in his own way. The funny thing is Paul at that time was a man who needed absolutely no introduction at all.
1 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ by the will of God.
That was his intro. Now when I speak at public schools I get a different introduction almost every time. I am many times Pastor Jeff from Freedom Baptist Church, or Jeff Gatlin who was friends with my son as a kid and a great kid. Sometimes coach Jeff who coaches my daughter at St. Augustine High, regardless it's about integrity and my integrity in that function that they see me in. And hopefully I come off humble enough for people to see me as someone who was called by God, and can do nothing in of myself. Without the power of the Holy Spirit in my life and God's calling on my life I am meaningless.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!