Integrity

22 Feb Integrity

Trustworthy, Truthfulness, Honesty, Virtue, Uprightness, Decency

How often do we even hear these words in daily conversation? How many people are regularly described using these terms? These are all synonyms for integrity. Being a person of integrity is simply being an upright, honest, decent man or woman. Social media, movies and TV shows would have you believe that dishonesty, division and deception are the norm but we cannot allow that to be the case. As Christians, we must set the example for integrity.

Psalms 26:11 says “but as for me, I will walk in mine integrity.” In other words, it doesn’t really matter what everyone else is doing, we have to make a decision for ourselves to walk in integrity. Walking in integrity means that we tell the truth. It means that we are the same person in private as we are in public; the same person on Monday as we are on Sunday. It means that we have decent morals and values and that we not only talk about them but we live them.

Proverbs 11:3 states that “the integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.” Notice that in this verse, duplicity is the exact opposite of integrity. In other words, we cannot live double lives. We cannot be of the world and then claim to be faithful to God. James 4:4 says it best when it says that “anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

So as we think about standing out from the rest, let’s make sure we are standing out for all the right reasons. A whole lot of people distinguish themselves from others based on what the world wants and admires, but we must strive to distinguish ourselves based on what God wants and desires – an honest, upright person of integrity.