INTEGRITY IS
IMPORTANT
When I was an
executive assistant many years ago, my boss gave me a letter to type to a
client and sign. It wasn’t an unusual request, but this time I was faced with a
dilemma. He lied in the letter. I didn’t want to lose my job by confronting
him, but in my heart, I knew I didn’t want to sign my name to a lie. After
debating with myself, I decided I’d rather
say no to my boss and yes to God. As it turned out,
I kept my job, even though my boss didn’t like me much after that.
That incident was a long time ago, but today there are many more
opportunities to be dishonest: get a handicap card when we’re not handicapped,
not go back and pay for the extra item that showed up in our shopping cart,
take the hacked fire stick, so we don’t have to pay for a movie, and so many
more things. These things may
seem silly, or small infractions, but we must realize that a small fracture
line in a baseball bat can end up splitting the bat in two and that goes for
our lives as well.
We get very
good at coming up with rationalizations as to why we “need” to be just a little
less honest than the Word of God would have us be. I confess that I was the one
who wanted the fire stick. (Some of you know how much I love movies.) I took my
sweet time coming around to doing the right thing. I debated with myself,
rationalized and even had the nerve to tell myself, “Well I’m doing it for
someone else’s benefit too, and I know they’ll be thrilled with it.” (Sounds like Saul blaming his disobedience on
“the people” in 1 Samuel 15:15, doesn’t it?)
Though Satan’s
temptation to be dishonest never seems to go away, we do have the ability
through Christ, to repent and change, thank God!
“I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13). God wouldn’t tell us to be
honest unless He already knew He’d given us the inner strength to do it. And as
an extra bonus, He rewards us for having
the faith to just “man up” and carry it out, in spite of our fears or rebellion.
“But without faith, it is impossible to please him: for he
that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6).
For my walk
with God, as a proclaimed minister, I can’t afford to be consciously dishonest
in anything, and I don’t want to be. So I looked up some verses in the Bible, just to drill the importance into my heart once
again, (especially at tax time when I’m tempted to add a few extra receipts
into my deductions).
And I’ve found
that sometimes people are ignorant of their deception. We tend to follow the crowd.
And what we see other people do, we do it too. But we should always be taking
our actions to God, not to what others get away with.
David was able
to say: “Judge me, O Lord; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the Lord; therefore I shall not
slide” (Psalm 26:1). In other words, when we don’t walk in integrity, we will
slide! Who wants to slide away from God,
for a few free movies or a few extra dollars in tax returns? Not me!
Proverbs 19:1
says: “Better is the poor that is walking in his integrity, than he that is
perverse in his lips, and is a fool. The word, “perverse” means “twisted, distorted
and crooked.” In other words, an honest poor man with God is better than a rich
fool without Him.
What about our
children? “The just man is walking in his integrity: his children are blessed after him” (Prov. 20:7). What are
we teaching our children, if they see by our actions that we lack integrity and
we’re not honest people?
And what about
our businesses? What kind of people do we want working for us? Unfortunately,
if people are dishonest in one category, they are most likely dishonest in more. Acts 6:3 is an excellent verse for doing a job search:
“Wherefore, brethren, look you out among you seven men of honest report, full
of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.”
And finally,
the Apostle Paul exhorts us: “Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things
are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report;
if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
I pray that
the rest of this year 2019, we live honesty, in integrity and truth.
Love, Carolyn
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