INTEGRITY
Integrity is
like the weather: Everybody talks about it but nobody knows what to do about
it.
Integrity
characterizes the entire person, not just part of him. He is righteous and honest through and
through. He is not only that inside, but
also in outer action.
Kent Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Man, Crossway, 1991,
p. 128.
The supreme
test of goodness is not in the greater but in the smaller incidents of our
character and practice; not what we are when standing in the searchlight of
public scrutiny, but when we reach the firelight flicker of our homes; not what
we are when some clarion-call rings through the air, summoning us to fight for
life and liberty, but our attitude when we are called to sentry-duty in the
gray morning, when the watch-fire is burning low. It is impossible to be our
best at the supreme moment if character is corroded and eaten into by daily
inconsistency, unfaithfulness, and besetting sin.
F.B. Meyer
Our Daily Walk. Christianity Today, v. 36,
n. 10.
The only
reason integrity should be a burden to you is if you enjoy being dishonest.
Sam Storms
Copied
from: Pleasures Evermore: The Life-Changing Power of Knowing God by Sam Storms,
© 2000, p. 236. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.org. All rights
reserved.
Integrity…does
not mean sinless, but it does describe a person who by God’s grace “sin less.”
Sam Storms
Copied
from: Pleasures Evermore: The Life-Changing Power of Knowing God by Sam Storms,
© 2000, p. 238. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.org. All rights
reserved.
1.
A
person of integrity fulfills his or her promises. Being true to one’s word,
especially when doing so is costly (in terms of money, convenience, physical
welfare, and so on), is a core characteristic of integrity.
2.
A
person of integrity speaks the truth, is honest, and does not lie.
3.
A
person of integrity is a person of sincerity. That is to say, a person of
integrity hates hypocrisy.
4.
A
person of integrity manifests a wholeness of character, including kindness,
compassion, mercy, and gentleness.
5.
A
person of integrity is committed to the pursuit and maintenance of justice and
fairness.
6.
A
person of integrity loves as, when, and what God loves.
7.
A
person of integrity is humble. He or she shuns pride and haughtiness.
8.
A
person of integrity is law-abiding. He or she plays by the rules, both in the
Bible and the law of the land.
9.
A
person of integrity is fundamentally altruistic. That is to say, he is committed
not simply to laws and rules but to people. Could a selfish person have much
integrity? What about someone who is honest, law-abiding, and fulfills his or
her promises but is self-absorbed and egocentric? Does
the latter eliminate the possibility of integrity?
10. A person of integrity manifests a high
degree of consistency. That is to say, he or she is not always changing the
principles on the basis of which they live, unless compelled to do so by the
Bible or rational persuasion.
Sam Storms
Copied
from: Pleasures Evermore: The Life-Changing Power of Knowing God by Sam Storms,
© 2000, p. 245-246. Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.org. All rights
reserved.
Often, if there is no risk of loss or painful
consequences, one will never know if one has integrity.
One will never know if what motivates you is moral conviction or moral
convenience until you are forced to suffer loss for standing your ground
or keeping your word.
Sam Storms
Integrity, November 6, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.
One’s mere
word should be as trustworthy as a signed agreement attested by legal
witnesses.
Curtis Vaughan
Quoted by Curtis C. Thomas, Practical
Wisdom for Pastors, Crossway Books, 2001, p. 112.
The word integrity means wholeness,
completeness, or consistency. Derivatives of the word penetrate the vocabulary
of many professions. In mathematics, we call whole numbers “integers,” and
calculus uses integral equations. School integration meant we bused school
children across towns seeking racial consistency. Engineers design structural
integrity into our buildings, bridges, and airplanes, or their lack of
integrity creates catastrophe in the news. Most recently, the lack of financial
integrity in certain types of insurance and investments has brought turmoil
where we expect soundness. In Scripture, when God appeared to Isaiah in chapter
6, Isaiah realized his own lack of integrity by confessing that he was undone,
or in other words, he disintegrated.
Greg Miseyko
Integrity in
Vocation, September 2008, Tabletalk, p. 70. Used by Permission.
Is it not a solemn thought, that the eye of God marks all
our common dealings of life, either as an abomination or a delight?
Charles Bridges
The world
needs men who cannot be bought; whose word is their bond; who put character
above wealth; who possess opinions and a will; who are larger than their
vocations; who do not hesitate to take chances; who will not lose their
individuality in a crowd; who will be honest in small things as in great
things; who will make no compromise with wrong; whose ambitions are not
confined to their own selfish desires; who will not say they do it “because
everyone else does it;” who are true to their friends through good report and
evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity; who do not believe that
shrewdness, cunning and hardheadedness are the best qualities for winning
success; who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for the truth when it is
unpopular, who can say “no” with emphasis, although all the rest of the world
says “yes.”
Author Unknown
Quoted in: Ted W. Engstrom,
The Making of a Christian Leader, Zondervan, 1976, p. 120.
www.zondervan.com.