Integrity
One of the greatest compliments ever paid to King David, is found in 1 Kings 9:4-5: “Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’”
Integrity is an elusive quality in far too many lives. It is interesting to note the Merriam-Webster definition, “A firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values: incorruptibility.” It is a concept that embraces “honesty, sincerity, and serving God out of a pure heart.”
Why is it so difficult to find lives known for integrity? Because in the world in which we live, far too many people have no idea of what is right and wrong. Having been taught that all truth is relative, and that feelings reign supreme, it does not bother them if they don’t have true integrity. They would dismiss it as simply a matter of opinion.
Some of this is the fruit of humanism and situation ethics. Human feelings super cede a code of conduct. There is no sense of guilt when they cheat people out of money, as they rationalize it as something for their own good. It is okay to deceive people if it achieves the desired outcome. Hence lying, cheating, stealing, living together without being married, divorcing and remarrying for any reason, homosexuality, etc., are immaterial. All that matters is that one is happy and content. In turn, others are to respect their convictions, or more appropriately, their lack of them.
It is frightening to live in a society that does not laude those who live good, upright moral lives. Instead they are chided and hated. It is an apt description of what the prophet of old wrote: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isa. 5:20).
Out lives should be honest, just, and pure because we seek to glorify God (Rom. 12:1-2). Regardless of the view of the world, ours should be lives of integrity. Like David of old, may we exemplify the kind of life that could be described in this manner, “In integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you.”
