It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. [Galatians 5:19-21a (MSG)]
God can’t stand deceivers, but oh how he relishes integrity. [Proverbs 11:20 (MSG)]
Last month, I read an article about a local construction company. Its founders built a successful business by focusing on a core set of values that are bookended by integrity and faith in God. Values such as leadership, lasting relationships, healthy environment, and quality are found in between those two. I recalled a dinner we had just attended that honored five businesses for their excellence. In their acceptance speeches, nearly every CEO mentioned integrity as one of his company’s core values. Considering how many corporate scandals have hit the news lately, it was heartening to find successful businesses that consider integrity to be one of their guiding principles. In just the last few months, the news has been filled with stories about corporate greed, insider trading, hacking schemes, Medicare fraud, kickbacks, identity theft, phony accounts, false claims, bribery, corruption and tax, securities, and accounting fraud. Integrity seems to be in short supply these days.
Integrity is being honest, fair and reliable. It is having soundness of moral character and being honorable, incorruptible and straightforward. It is having the courage to do the right thing in all situations. It is conducting our lives in private the same way we do in public. It is treating people who can do us favors the same way we treat those who can’t. It is what each and every person and each and every business should have but, unfortunately, often doesn’t.
Out of curiosity, I looked up the published core beliefs or corporate values of several of the recent black sheep of the business world and was surprised to see that many of them listed things like integrity, doing what’s right for their customers, ethics, and honesty as one or more of their guiding principles. Apparently, it’s easy to say we believe in integrity but much harder to act with it. What I didn’t find on any of those websites, however, was any mention of faith in God. Perhaps the mistake those scandal-ridden businesses made was not having a value like integrity bookended with faith in God. After all, it’s only through the power of the Holy Spirit that our sinful nature can be conquered.
Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you. [H. Jackson Brown, Jr.]
Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. [2 Peter 1:3 (MSG)]
But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. [Galatians 5:22-23 (MSG)]
In our part of Florida, yellow lights tend to mean “speed up” and red lights are just mere suggestions so no one really expects anyone to stop at a yellow. Although the light had just turned yellow, the elderly gentleman stopped his car. “The #@!% idiot should have sped through the intersection!” said the women following him. Having been tailgating his car, she was furious at having to brake so abruptly. Already late, now she’d be even later. Moreover, the unexpected stop caused her to spill her coffee and drop both her cell phone and makeup. Angry, she laid on the horn, called him a few more choice expletives, shook her fists and even gave him the middle-finger salute! She was in mid-rant when she looked up to see a police officer at her window. He politely ordered her to exit the car. Having forgotten her driver’s license in another purse, she was transported to the police station, fingerprinted, photographed, and finally placed in a holding cell.
Also, the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with deep feelings that words cannot explain. God can see what is in people’s hearts. And he knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way God wants. [Romans 8:26-27 (NCV)]
Printed on the tee-shirt were Paul’s words from Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things.” While the shirt, part of a new line of Christian workout wear, would be a great conversation starter at the gym, the message is somewhat misleading. I could wear that shirt and say those words but, try as I might, I’d still be unable to bench press 450 pounds! That, however, is not why the message is misleading. It’s because the rest and most important part of Paul’s words—“through Christ who strengthens me”—are missing. Paul’s words are not words of self-sufficiency but of God’s all-sufficiency. The apostle was not boasting of himself and his strength but rather of God’s strength and power that enable us to do His work.
We women tend to consider the mirror a critic, and a ruthless one at that. I don’t know about men but I suspect you fellows may not be all that different. When we look in a mirror, the message we perceive is often disparaging and fault-finding: tired looking, “bed head,” too fat, too old, or too saggy. Then the mirror starts in our apparel telling us things are too tight, too loose, out of style, too young, too old, too wrinkled, or just plain ugly! Most of us don’t hear our mirrors affirming that we are marvelously made.
Devotions of the Heart 