What is integrity? Why is it not in the King James Bible? Without integrity the Word of God is empty and useless to anyone. What does Mr. Webster say about this word? Adherence to a code of moral, artistic, or other values. The quality or state of being complete or undivided.
I really expected more of a statement that explained how important a persons word was to their character or image. Without integrity being black or white, you will only have a system of moral values that depend on how they are viewed at the time. Take the Ten Commandments as Gods view of integrity. Strict and to the point. No doubt as to where God stands. He set them up for us to be a guide for us to live our lives by daily.
In America we had this set of values or standard since our beginning as a Nation. Now we no longer are able to use them as our guide, because we are so much wiser than God. Not! Just look at our country and you will not see any integrity from our Government leaders. Right and Wrong are only antiquated ideals no longer seen as valid for our society.
Our complete society has lost its moral compass, and this has been going on since the sixties, when they pulled prayer and the Bible out of our public school system. The ten commandments were our moral compass, given to us by a wise and loving God.
Love for each other is the highest form of integrity. If you love others you will never want to do anything to harm them. Not sexual love but real love, that comes from compassion for your fellowman. Treat everyone the way you want to be treated (Matthew 7:12, Leviticus 19:18). If we really love our neighbor as ourselves, then we can be sure we will not steal from them, or slander them, or anything else you can imagine. Do you treat everyone around you this way? If you can not answer this as Yes, then you need to reset your life and get in line with the Word of God.
Do a google search for scriptures on love, and read all the times it is mentioned. It is the major theme of the New Testament, and we need to become intimately involved with it. The Church as a whole has missed this almost completely since its beginning. Not the early Church, but what came several centuries later, Religion. The dumbing down of the Gospel. The modern Church has forgotten who we are and how we are to treat each other, so the world will know Jesus is still alive and well on planet earth.
Honoring your word is a foreign concept to almost everyone in our world today. Even in the church! I would like to list the seven things I believe make up a persons integrity.
- Honesty-refusal to lie, even a small fib or being deceptive to anyone.
- Moral-a fixed, unchangeable set of ideals based on the Bible.
- Love- real compassion for others, especially those within the body of Christ.
- Words- keeping a militant watch over our words.
- Actions- these are the words others see and not just hear.
- Thoughts- taking captive every thought that arises that is contrary to scripture.
- Character- how you portray yourself to others, and most important, how you view yourself
All these words that I have listed go together to form our personal image of integrity that those around you see daily. How you conduct yourself is what the world sees, but when we are alone and how we really act, is how God sees us. We do not have a very active God-Man relationship. We are always looking over our shoulder to see if anyone saw us each time we goof up.
Time for another wake up call! God says in His Word that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). He also said that He lives within us (1 Corinthians 3:16). Why do we not understand this? I guess we are in the habit of putting our spirit man up on a shelf, where he is out of our way, then we can do what feels good to us.
God sees what we do, even if no one else saw us do it. I will give you an example from my own life. My children messed up and I never saw them do it, but the evidence was there. When I asked them “who did this”? They protested they were innocent. I guess they wanted me to believe there was a third child living with us that I was unaware of. God is not handicapped as we are. He was right there when we blew it. Busted! We need to get real with ourselves and become God conscious all the time, this is what integrity is all about. Becoming responsible for our actions all the time.
Change is what these letters to you are all about. I need to change daily, and this is the help I am trying to give to you. We all need to realize that we are just humans who are loved by the God who created us in His image (Genesis 1: 22). His love for us is unconditional, just as we are. But, His love for us will not leave us as He found us. He will finish the job He started (Philippians 1:5), of that we can be sure. His will for us is to become like Him, full of faith, full of love, full of integrity.
All we have to do is read His word and allow Holy Spirit to transform us as we renew our minds (to His ways (Isaiah 55:8, Philippians 2:5). Remember, you will make it, just don’t give up.
See you soon.
The Kilted Priest 
So true
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