Walking In Integrity

-March 4, 2022-

Good morning, happy Friday,

“The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.”

(Proverbs 20:7).

In the OT, believers in the Lord were called the righteous. They were saved by the faith in what God revealed to them, which pointed forward to the cross of Christ. Some say, “They were saved on credit. Even before the law was given, it says of Abraham in Genesis 15:6, “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him as righteousness.” Abraham is the father of faith and we are children of Abraham.

In the Scriptures, there was always a small number of true believers, called the remnant. The same is still true of those today, who believe in Jesus for salvation. While more may go to church, it is clear that not all of them genuinely saved. When Jesus saves us, He changes our lives and we begin to live Him and serve Him. Solomon wrote, “The righteous man walks in his integrity…”

The Oxford Dictionary defines the word integrity as, “The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.” Being a man or woman of integrity doesn’t mean we are perfect or sinless; but it means we are obedient to God, walking according to His will and following His principles and values. We need more people of integrity today. Our moral compass must point to heaven in order to keep us on the right course on earth.

There are times we get tested and tempted to follow the standards that everyone else in the world follows. Instead, we must hold fast to our integrity and be examples to others, especially our kids. The last part of our verse says, “His children are blessed after him.” If we want our kids to have integrity, we must have integrity. If do not set the example, we can’t expect others to take our Christianity seriously. This is what happened with Lot and his two sons-in-law when God’s judgment was about to come down on Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 19:14 says, “So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, ‘Get up out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!’ But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.”

May the Lord help us to walk in integrity every day, consistently and obediently. It means to be honest, truthful, sincere, and morally strong in our words and conduct, whether anyone is watching or not. Job was a man of integrity, and even when he was severely tested, he maintained his integrity. In Job 2:9-10 says, “Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!’ But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

How about us? Do we hold fast to our integrity even in the hardest times? May we like Job be men and women who are blameless, upright, fearing God, and shunning evil. We will shine brightly for Christ and our testimony will be strong. It won’t be easy, but it will be a blessing.

Have a blessed day walking in integrity today and every day. Stay safe and healthy.

In His grace,

Dean