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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