The Unseen Life, Part 24

The artillery battalion was on a three weeks’ overseas exercise. While we were on manoeuvres, the military training area’s terrain was rough and extremely dry during the hot summer season. By the time we arrived at our first deployment, our faces were caked with a layer of dust. Needless to mention, there were numerous accidents as our drivers were unfamiliar with the topography and winding rustic byways. Serious vehicular injuries were evacuated to a military hospital near the training zone. Thankfully, these latter trips were minimal and the casualties’ recovery speedy. Swarms of flies and insects hovered around the mobile kitchens as meals were being prepared. Sickness was therefore not uncommon during these operations. By the conclusion of each night exercise, we were just about collapsing into exhaustion, prior to mandatory debriefs, followed by an inspection of the field medical equipment. 
 
During our rest and recreation following the Exercise, we were billeted in one of the largest hotels on the outskirts of the capital city for five days. At the time, as senior medic, I volunteered to share a room with a sick soldier. The days and nights were filled with raucous behaviours among the soldiers. Three weeks after we returned to Singapore, every soldier who went for the overseas exercise, was required to report to the Battalion’s Medical Centre to submit a blood sample for a VDRL test. 
 
On the second night, the hotel’s porter along our corridor stopped me, and we chatted for a while. He had been observing the behaviours of batches of our soldiers at the hotel for the past several years. He wanted to know whether I was a Christian! That discerning interaction with the porter was indicative how observant some individuals are in reading human behaviour. What surprised me was his bold inquisitiveness in clarifying his curiosity. He wasn’t a believer. This was followed by a short conversation about the Christian faith. That encounter triggered a few thoughts on a believer’s behaviour as mentioned in the Gospels and Epistles. 
 
The Gospels and Epistles together form the New Testament’s most comprehensive teaching on how Christians should think, act, and live in the world. The Gospels present Jesus’ direct model and instructions for behavior, while the Epistles (written by the apostles like Paul, Peter, John, and James) apply those teachings to daily Christian life and community conduct. 
 
Jesus teaches in the Gospels that Christian behavior flows from an inner transformation; i.e., a heart aligned with God’s will. His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) sets forth the discipleship character of believers where humility, mercy, purity, peace-making, and righteousness flourish, while warning against hypocrisy and self-righteousness (Matthew 16:24; 11:29). Distinctively, followers of Christ are called the salt of the earth and the light of the world; living in a way that reflects divine love that transforms society through quiet example rather than worldly power. Even toward enemies, Jesus models forgiveness and compassion (Luke 23:34), where mercy and grace predominate. Thus, behavior arises not from legal obligation but from our personal relationship of love and imitation of the Savior.
 
The Epistles, on the other hand, interpret the Gospel’s moral vision into practical instructions for believers and the church communities. Paul urges Christians to offer our body as a living sacrifice and be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:1–2), thereby creating a pattern of humility, self-sacrifice, and service that’s central to the themes in his Letters (1Cor 13:4-8; Phil 2:5; Eph 4:1; 5:1-2). Peter, James and John reinforce this moral pattern by calling believers to holiness under suffering and steadfastness in faith; qualities that reflect our royal priesthood, as good conduct is evidence of our faith’s authenticity (1 Peter 2:9; James 2:17; 1Jn 2:6; ). Together, the Epistles portray Christian ethics not merely as rules to follow but as expressions of the Spirit’s work transforming believers into Christ’s likeness (Galatians 5:22–23; 1 Cor 6: 18 – 20; Gal 5: 19 – 21; Eph 5: 3; Col 3: 5; Eph 4: 29; Col 3:8; James 1: 26). 
 
This consequentially leads us to the virtue of integrity; a word that appears to have lost its significance in our post-modern world, but remains a cornerstone of the individual’s moral probity and self-unity. In Scripture, the concept of integrity, the essence of being, is referenced frequently, with our Lord as its paramount exemplar (Matt 5:33-34; Heb 4:15; Rev 3:14). In the Old Testament, Job’s predicament explored his moral rectitude towards his family, friends and his Creator. Integrity, therefore, implies how true to ourselves we are in accurately representing, privately and publicly, our internal states, intentions, and commitments, thereby indicating the values we uphold when we accept and take responsibility for our feelings and behaviours; owning them and the outcome they engender, even when those moral convictions are not popular. When grounded in the Christian faith, it reflects God’s character in one’s moral uprightness and truthfulness in the person’s beliefs, words, and actions irrespective of circumstances. It’s interesting to note that typically integrity correlates with measures of psychological well-being; broadly defined as a positive mood, life satisfaction, openness to experience, empathy, self-actualisation, conscientiousness, and positive interpersonal outcomes.
 
So, the moral vision of the New Testament does not depend on external conformity but on an inward renewal producing outward God’s love and holiness toward others and the world around us, thereby honouring Him. How we behave when no one is watching can be extremely telling; especially from the perspective of the All-Seeing-One! (Prov 15:3; Ps 139:1-4; Heb 4:13).