Integrity

"May integrity...protect me."
Ps 25:21 NIV

Though repeatedly tempted by Potiphar's wife, Joseph said no. Faced with similar circumstances, David said yes. But the story doesn't end there. David married Bathsheba; when their son Solomon grew up he took seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away from God (See 1Ki 11:3). Integrity may not seem like a big deal now, but your lack of it will have far-reaching consequences. Integrity means keeping commitments, even though the circumstances in which you made them have changed. One leader points out that when integrity is the referee, your lips and your life will be in agreement. Your beliefs will be mirrored by your behavior. There'll be no discrepancy between what you appear to be and what you are, whether in good times or bad. Integrity is not only the referee between opposing value systems, it's the decision maker between being at peace and being fragmented within. It frees you to become a whole person no matter what comes your way. There's a story about a job applicant who was asked why he was discharged from his last position. He replied, "Because I wanted to take work home with me." When asked who he worked for, he replied, "The First National Bank." We smile, but in a recent survey of employees, 55% said they didn't trust their top management. Are you trustworthy? Will Rogers said: "People's minds are changed through observation, not argument. People do what people see. What they hear, they understand; what they see, they believe and follow." That's why a corrected and contrite Psalmist prayed, "Guard my life...let me not be put to shame...May integrity...protect me" (Ps 25:20-21 NIV).