Dear Trekker,
A few days ago, the subject of integrity was laid upon my heart. The very next morning, the lead article of our local Colorado Springs newspaper was: “FBI probes former CEO of ComCor (allegedly $1 M stolen from halfway house).” The state of integrity in any culture is always on trial; it is a ubiquitous subject by its continual absence! Or so it seems.
Two definitions are in order for this writing – integrity and elusive. Here is my stab. Integrity is moral rightness (righteousness) lived, consistently expressed without failure. It is “right wholeness” in action. Elusive is anything difficult to find, catch, or achieve. Hence the title for this month – “If elusive, is it integrity at all?” Integrity is tied etymologically to the word integer. Integer is a whole number, not to be divided. Integrity is wholeness, not to be divided, compromised, or relationally separated.
For a human being, integrity is leading with the truth, always, without exception, saying what is true, doing what you say you will do, saying accurately (after the fact) what you did and did not do. Whew! Who can pass the test of integrity? Perhaps the beginning of getting a leg up on this subject is admitting that one has none – no integrity at all. Sorta like the beginning of getting aligned rightly with the Almighty …admitting you are a sinner who sins in myriad ways.
Where in, then, does real integrity lie? Only in the heart and nature of God! Hebrews 13:7, 8 comes immediately to mind: “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.” (Italics mine.) Integrity flows from character and character is effused from one’s nature. We sin because we are sinners. God is good and His nature “forces” the creation and promulgation of goodness. God cannot help but have integrity; His very nature is the essence of integrity. Never changing, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He cannot help but be the same…always!
Now, I am way ahead of myself in my writing, but if you want integrity, trekker, you better learn from Jesus, the Son of God. You better know Jesus, live Jesus and love Jesus. He alone has integrity! Learn His ways, receive His blessing of His Spirit, and you and I have a fighting chance to live integrated, righteous lives. Without His empowerment, we are doomed. We don’t have a fighting chance to practice integrity in our daily lives. In ourselves, we simply are not always honest!
God wants, likes and blesses upright people. Three Old Testament characters come to mind. They are God’s examples of people with integrity, whom God blesses. Let’s try them on for size: Job, Samuel and Daniel (chronological order only). Integrity was not elusive to them. It was ever-present.
Job was a “good man,” i.e. he had integrity. The whole book of Job is about integrity and God blessing people of integrity and ignoring people without it. Job begins: “In the land of Uz (some suggest Uz was ancient Jordan) there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared (respected) God and shunned evil. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East (Chapter 1:1-3). Notice – Job feared God, respected and sought His favor and shunned evil! Chapter 2, verse 3 is instructive: Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered (noticed) my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” God acknowledges Job’s faith of propriety (Dallas Willard’s phrase in Life Without Lack, January MEN 2020) when, if we do right and well, common grace grants prosperity. Job had integrity, accepting the good and the bad without wavering in his faith (Job 2:10). Trekker, we need more men with the faith of Job. Faith and integrity are two sides of the same coin.
Samuel, prophet and final Judge before Israel demanded a King, is the next OT character that arises to the level of human integrity wherein God chooses to bless. In Samuel’s farewell speech to the Israelites (I Sam 12), he withstands the integrity test: 1) no bribes taken; 2) no one cheated; 3) nothing stolen; 4) no one oppressed; and 5) the willingness to make right if anything had been done wrong. What a practical test for integrity! Now notice, trekker, it is the man of integrity that God chooses so often to use. Leadership from God as he appoints and anoints people to and for leadership, so often involves people of integrity, by principle and practice. Integrity laden people are people whom God can use. Samuel, both prophet and Judge, turned Israel around, giving them a King (Saul) and set forth the kingly throne of David, leading to Christ. Men (and women) of integrity carry out God’s plan of history then and now, I believe, without question.
Finally, the Spirit lays young Daniel on my mind. What a young man of integrity! During the Babylonian captivity of the Israelites, King Nebuchadnezzar conscripted some of the Israeli elite to be his attendants. Four young men from Judah were called… Daniel and three of his buddies. Daniel’s integrity immediately came to the fore. Daniel, Chapter 1, v, 8: “But Daniel (in training) resolved not to defile himself with royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way (Italics mine). Men of integrity seek not to defile themselves, or to place themselves in compromising positions. Daniel trusted God, and God did amazing things through Daniel’s faithful trust and obedience. Trekker, have you read Daniel lately? Read it! You too can dare to be a Daniel!
Integrity, trekker, is head and heart and hands linked inseparably together (Psalm 78:72). God uses and blesses people of integrity. Let’s be that person, my friend!
Seeking to walk in integrity, your fellow trekker,
Jim Meredith
