Integrity Personified

"The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively."  -Bob Marley

According to Wikipedia, the definition of integrity is: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. It is generally a personal choice to uphold oneself to consistently moral and ethical standards.  Simply put, it's a term used to describe a person's level of honesty, moral commitments, and willingness to do what's right.

There are different kinds of integrity, such as: academic integrity, political integrity, workplace integrity, and legal integrity, to name just a few. Most of us look at integrity as not only admirable, but also a valuable attribute to have. People usually want to emulate someone of good integrity. Unfortunately, it's getting more difficult to find good role models all the time.

To paraphrase Socrates, you can't teach integrity. You can only help another person to discover the level of integrity they already have. As I mentioned above, good examples are not that easy to find today. Jesus Christ is an awesome example of integrity. You could say that He is a perfect example.

Thankfully, we don't have to look very far to find Him. as a matter of fact, He is what you could call a "perfect example of a man with integrity. "For example, He was both man and God at the same time. Even so, He was subjected to temptation by Satan in every way, shape, and form just like you and me. Yet, he never gave in to sin (Hebrews 4:15).

We're quite a different story, though. Our integrity is definitely flawed. Jesus, on the other hand, is the only one who was ever flawless, perfect, completely truthful, and always demonstrating good works. I guess you could say that He set the bar pretty high for the rest of us to follow! Does this mean that we are out of luck? Ahhhh...now, here's the really cool part!

Even though we are flawed, or imperfect, there's good news! We can take part in His divine nature. How? When we are "in Christ" we have accepted His sacrifice as payment for our own sin. So, by being in Christ we, in essence,  are given new natures in Christ. And guess what? This includes one of integrity because it's His nature (2 Corinthians 5:17)!

Does that mean that we become "perfect?" Unfortunately, no. Remember, Christ was the only person who ever met the criteria for perfection. What it does mean for us though, is that through our faith in Him, and repentance, we are given an opportunity to change our lives around. We now have access to all of the good attributes of Jesus Christ, of which one just happens to be integrity!

How is this possible, you ask? You see, once we come to Christ in faith and repentance, He provides us with the gift of the Holy Spirit who helps us develop our indestructible integrity. Hence, it's impossible to have real integrity without Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

Scripture: Proverbs 20:7; Luke 16:10; Hebrews 13:18; Ephesians 6:6; Proverbs 11:5

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I confess my lack and come to You in humility of spirit, knowing that in Your loving-kindness You forgive those that are of a contrite heart. I want to be a person of integrity and live a life that is godly and full of grace – and I can only do so as I abide in You and rest in Your love. Amen

God bless you!

Kendall