Integrity: No Price Too Great
“For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth comes knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.” (Proverbs 2:6 – 8)
Jesus posed the ageless question, “What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” This speaks of the priceless qualities of integrity. It is best defined by some synonyms, such as, “honesty,” “faithfulness,” “sincerity,” and “innocence.” It means having a mind free of subterfuge and deception. The writer of Proverbs used the Hebrew word for integrity, which when anglicized is “tom.” In the text is translated “walks upright.” It is an axiom that means “one who has a lifestyle free of a hidden agenda.” It means, you don’t have anything to hide. It means being willing to put yourself on trial to be judged by God’s standards and refusing to be deluded and deceived by self-exoneration.
We must have an integrity GPS set on a true spiritual north. That setting is Jesus Christ. We must be locked on to Him or we lose our direction.
Proverbs 25:19 gives a graphic description of a person lacking integrity: “Confidence in an unfaithful man in times of trouble is like a bad tooth or a foot out of joint.”
The text speaks of God saying, “He is a shield to those who walk upright,” that is, “in integrity.” It is not integrity that is a shield; it is God Himself Who is the shield for the person who manifests integrity. As a shield takes the blows on itself intended for another, so our Lord takes our potential injury on Himself.
The fact a shield is needed clearly implies warfare. A person who dares to maintain a lifestyle of integrity can expect to be engaged in spiritual warfare. The person who valiantly and virtuously maintains integrity will not lack for a Helper nor an ultimate reward.
Observe “He who walks in integrity walks securely…” (Proverbs 10:9) “Walks” is a word for “lifestyle.” This is an appeal to maintain a lifestyle of integrity. When life is over God will not measure our integrity by our moments of brilliance, but by our consistency. To do so, a word within the word integrity speaks of a characteristic needed. It is “inteGRITy” It takes GRIT.
The glory of Jesus Christ is involved in every temptation by which we are threatened, and for His sake, if not for our own, we must stand firm.
When we become more concerned about pleasing God than people, integrity prevails.
When we are more concerned about who we are than what we have or can get, integrity prevails and God is glorified. It is now time for your integrity check.