InteGRITy

Integrity. What comes to your mind when you think of it? Doing good? Doing the right thing always? Or maybe you think of a "goody-goody" boy you knew years ago.While I have my own personal opinion of what integrity is, I decided to see what Noah Webster had to say on the subject. In our Webster dictionary (Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary), the explanation for "integrity" goes like this:

"1: an unimpaired condition : SOUNDNESS  2: firm adherence to a code of esp. moral or artistic values : INCORRUPTIBILITY 3: the quality or state of being complete or undivided : COMPLETENESS"



So integrity, according to Webster, is an unimpaired, complete, and undivided state in which there is firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values. That matches my personal definition of integrity pretty well, because I would say that integrity is doing the right thing under all circumstances, even if no one's watching you.

Are there any examples of Biblical characters having integrity? YES! Take Joseph, for instance. You can read the full story in Genesis 37-50, but I'll summarize the plot here. Joesph, the favorite son of patriarch Jacob, is sold into slavery by his own, jealous, brothers. As a teenager. Joseph could have gotten really angry on his journey down into Egypt, but instead he choose to remember and obey his father's God. When Potipher's wife almost dragged Joesph into sin, he maintained his integrity and fled from evil. These experiences, along with many others, made Joseph just the man Pharoah needed to prepare Egypt for a great famine. And that all began when Joseph decided to do a good job at everything, to do right...even in the little things. Little things count.

I could go on and on about stories of integrity in the Bible. There's Daniel, Job, Noah, and Samuel. They all had integrity and did what was right.

Samuel? You mean that little kid who got a call from God when he was like, what, 6 years old?

Yes, Samuel. A few weeks ago I was studying my lesson for church, and that particular week the lesson was on Hannah's wish for Samuel, as well as Samuel growing up. In each lesson, there is listed a suggested Bible chapter to read (which'll cover that week's story), and some suggested chapters to read out of a Christian book such as Patriarchs and Prophets, by Ellen White. Following my lesson's suggestions, I was reading the Patriarchs and Prophets chapter on the boy Samuel. (If you're interested, that would be chapter 55.) Ellen White talked about how young Samuel had much integrity, as he consistently, every day, stood up and did what was right...even in the face of priest Eli's two very wicked sons. I liked what Mrs. White said about integrity in that chapter:

The symmetrical structure of a strong, beautiful character is built up by individual acts of duty. And faithfulness should characterize our life in the least as well as in the greatest of its details. Integrity in little things, the performance of little acts of fidelity and little deeds of kindness, will gladden the path of life; and when our work on earth is ended, it will be found that every one of the little duties faithfully performed has exerted an influence for good--an influence that can never perish.

InteGRITy. It's not easy, that's for sure. You've got to put some GRIT into it. Putting forth GRIT will mean different things for different people. For me, that may mean doing the right thing at my part-time janitorial jobs, even if people aren't watching me. And even if it is harder to do the right thing.

We can't get inteGRITy all by ourselves. Just having GRIT, however important, won't work! We need God's help, and continue asking Him for help, each day. Then, when God's power and our GRIT are combined, we can become the people of inteGRITy and character that God wants us to be!

How about you? Do you have inteGRITy? How about praying to God right now, and asking Him to help you have inteGRITy and be a better "sermon in shoes" for Him?