Integrity can look a lot like righteousness. This devotional reading looks at how integrity should lead to righteousness, some examples of men who had integrity, and how we should be examples, too.
Nuggets
- Integrity fosters steadfastness.
- Integrity is a choice.
- Having integrity doesn’t mean being sinless.
- We are to be examples to others, as Jesus is an example to us.
This year we are looking at growing our habits. Our study is on what we have to commit to in order to do that.
Our next topic is integrity. Possessing integrity is an important element in having the character of God.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Habitual Holiness of Heart and Life theme, click the button below.
Here is a running list of nuggets for the theme.
Devotions in the Commit to Grow Our Habits study
Here is a running list of nuggets for the study.
Integrity
“Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out” (Prov. 10: 9 ESV)
Integrity fosters steadfastness.
Sometimes, versions translate the word as integrity. A lot of times we just describe it as honesty.
Back in Old Testament times, integrity had an excellent example of what was good and what was bad. Weights were commonly used to measure items for sale.
God gave specific instructions in Leviticus. “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Lev. 19: 35-36 ESV).
That tells me that standards of weights should be absolute. A pound should always weigh 16 ounces — no more, no less.
I wonder when Lindsay wrote this comment. He wrote, “The policy of the world, like the world itself, is fluctuating and deceitful.”
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Wow! That so describes the world today.
Think about going to the store to get a dozen eggs. You have your meal plans all lined up, and you need exactly 12 eggs.
But on that day, the grocer decides that a dozen means 8 eggs.
There were different ways to be dishonest with the weights. One could be substituted for another, or things added on the scale with the correct weight.
Either way, it showed a lack of integrity. An incorrect amount was purposefully substituted for the standard absolute.
Think about it this way. Integrity is the foundation of all that is good in our lives.
Other times, it is translated as uprightness, meaning righteous. Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws. That is the thing for which disciples are striving.
It also talks to us about moral character. We don’t show favorites or change things on a whim. Neither do we change things just because we believe something different.
Why do we want changes made? Sometimes, it is greed. Other times, it is covetousness. Covetousness is an inordinate greed for wealth and possessions.
Many times, we want changes to be made because we just don’t want to follow God’s way of doing things.
Worldview people think that they gain through this lack of integrity. They don’t. “Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death” (Prov. 10: 2 ESV).
How can that be? The lack of integrity equates to a lowness of spirit. The lowness of spirit shows the lack of God in our lives.
We are guided by God to walk with integrity.
God offers us steadfastness.
- “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam. 3: 22-23 ESV)
- “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal. 3: 6 ESV).
Isn’t that what integrity is about? People don’t have to guess on which side of the fence you are going to fall this day because you don’t change your principles.
Now, let’s reconcile that with sanctification is all about change. Sanctification is the transformational process of the mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
ABCDing is a good thing. We are to gain knowledge, specifically about Who God is and what He has done for us. That is a change we want to make.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
We can’t tell God what He says is really isn’t. Absolutes have to stay absolute.
Job as an Example
“Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me” (Job 27: 5 ESV)
Integrity is a choice.
We once spent about a whole quarter looking at the character of Job. He was a man of integrity.
To read a devotion in the Job: The Ultimate Test of Character series, click on the button below.
Remember, Job was an upright, blameless man who lost everything because Satan thought it is easy to praise God when things are going swimmingly. He was so sure Job would curse God when everything was taken away from him.
Ooo, baby, was Satan wrong.
Oh, yeah. We all want to be happy, and our circumstances goes a long way to dictate whether or not we are.
Standing up for our moral beliefs takes courage, but it does bring much happiness and contentment. It takes courage because it is hard when our beliefs are opposite to those of the world.
Faure said that opposite viewpoint is prevalent. He wrote, “But the lack of moral courage is visible everywhere about us. It infests and poisons every trade and every profession; and moral cowardice abounds in the very last place where it should be met with — the Church.
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Most of us would probably agree that lack of integrity is in the world. We probably would rather not hear that it is in the Church.
But we know it is. Believers and non-believers are congregation members. Plus, even though we have ABCDed, we still have the capacity to sin — to have the lack of integrity.
When we have integrity, we have God’s truth. Somerville said that, even though we will still have some prejudice, it will be weakened.
Somerville said something that I need to process. He wrote, “The manners of every individual must, in some degree, be formed upon the examples and fashions of the surrounding multitude. But this may be truly asserted, a man of integrity will not be the first to invent or imitate any custom that departs from simplicity and nature, and consists only in ceremony and false refinement.”
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To me, that reads that our integrity must in some ways mirror that of the world’s.
Ooo, baby. That kicks.
No, I do not believe that the worldview gets to determine what integrity is. God sets the foundation.
I can see that the worldview influences the implementation of the foundation. It factors into how we approach situations.
But it all comes from God His way. It comes from a culture of righteousness.
This dependence on God’s integrity must be a lifetime undertaking.
The important to remember is as Hunsworth said. He wrote, “Job had lost almost everything else, but he still held fast his righteousness.”
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Even though Job had lost everything, he didn’t lose his righteousness. Our relationship with God does not depend on what we have or not any more than it is dependent on our circumstances.
Our relationship with God depends on who we are — our character, our integrity.
Don’t gloss over the fact that Hunsworth said Job held fast to his righteousness. Our verse said he didn’t put it away.
It was Job’s choice to submit to God and follow Him.
Righteousness is based on character. But it is not our character, it is God’s. We have to have God’s character.
If we have the character of God, we are obedient to Him. Blessings are in the obedience.
Therefore, our blessings are based on our character.
Think about this. How many times are our characters under attack? I guess the better question would be — when are they not?
That is because Satan knows character is very important to God.
We can’t think that we can attain this character — this righteousness — without God.
We can hold fast when we hold on to God.
David as an Example
“And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules” (I Kgs. 9: 4 ESV)
Having integrity doesn’t mean being sinless.
When we think of righteousness, we think of Psalm 41: 12. “But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever” (Ps. 41: 12 ESV).
We think we have to have 100% integrity to have the forever.
But look what God told Solomon. He was talking about his dad, David.
God said that David walked with integrity of heart and uprightness. Was He talking about the same David?
The David we read about was a murderer and adulterer. Surely, God wasn’t talking about Him!
But God was.
Maclaren explained it this way. He wrote, “His integrity is not sinless, nor does [he] plead it as a reason for Jehovah’s upholding, but hopes for it as the consequence of His sustaining hand.”
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It isn’t about us not breaking the rules. That would be a salvation that we earned.
It is about putting our hope in God to save us as He said He would.
Time out. I have to read through what Bushnell said about integrity. (You never know when you are going to run across something, and it isn’t always convenient to go back and rewrite.)
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- Integrity must describe all of us, not just one compartmentalized section of us.
- It is more about intent than whether or not we actually sinned.
- Integrity must have a God-focus, not a man-focus.
- Integrity doesn’t allow us to show favorites.
But doesn’t that tell us about why integrity doesn’t mean sinless? We are humans. We are going to struggle with doing those things.
Kingsley reminded us that integrity does not mean self-righteousness. He called self-righteousness a bad characteristic of the mind.
Resource
Have you ever confessed a sin you didn’t commit? I have.
In second grade, I got a paddling because I was with a group of friends who deserved the paddling. My sin was I was in the group, not committing the sin.
I wasn’t actively taking a role, but neither was I trying to stop it.
When the teacher said go to the building, I went. Looking back, she hadn’t been looking at me.
I think guilt by association applies here. So does continued desire to, even when we haven’t actually done it. (You know, lusting is adultery without the act in Matthew 5: 28).
We shouldn’t be proud that we are a sinner — even a sinner saved by grace. This may just be arrogance. It definitely is pride.
Us as an Example
“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity” (Ti. 2: 7 ESV)
We are to be examples to others, as Jesus is an example to us.
We can’t think this verse in Titus only applies to ministers. We are all ministers.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Taylor gave us a list of how we are to be examples.
- Live out the doctrine.
- Show others the rewards of obedience.
- Appropriate words and actions.
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We have integrity because God calls us to have it. We also have integrity because we are to show others Who God is.
Making the Connections #1
Some of the verses talked about our walk. Walking is the term used to describe how we conduct our daily lives, specifically our habitual state of mind, behavior, and manners.
The conduct part is where the integrity comes into play. It doesn’t mean just being a good person. It means God wants us to be righteous .
The path we are to take on this walk is the straight and narrow path that leads to the narrow gate. Yes, this does mean God requires specific things from which we cannot deviate.
Glossary
Making the Connections #2
Do we really need integrity if we get grace?
YES!!!!
Just as the righteousness isn’t our own, grace doesn’t give us a license to sin. It isn’t about us.
It is about God and His Plan of Salvation.
How Do We Apply This?
- Confess sins we do commit.
- Don’t confess sins we don’t commit.
- Be strong, safe, and happy because we have integrity.
- Know what is right and act upon that.
Resources
Father God. Thank You for showing us right from wrong. We exhibit integrity when we do what is right in Your sight. Help us to walk on Your narrow way. Let us be examples to others so that they may come to know You. Amen.
What do you think?
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