The Proverbs write, “All the ways of man are clean in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit”. Prov. 16,2. Solomon had already said, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is death”. 14,12.
Integrity is the way a person is inside. Remember, what a person is is never hidden from God, for God, in choosing David as the next king, had said to Samuel, “You see the outward man, as a man seeth, but the Lord looks at the heart: l Sam. 16,7.
Integrity. A good example is Joseph. Remember him, sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, sent to Egypt and ended up in the house of Potiphar, an official, where he ended up as head steward in charge of the household because “the Lord blessed Joseph,” and as a result the household was blessed.
BUT. Well, you remember that story, how the man’s wife cast an eye on Joseph, tried to seduce him, and heard him say, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” Genesis 39,7. and run away from her, ending up in a dungeon. Of course the man believed the shrill lies of his wife. I do not suppose Joseph even had a chance to defend himself before he was condemned.
Even there he was blessed of God, till Pharoah had a dream, and the chief butler who had also been jailed for some reason but had been released, remembered Joseph had correctly interpreted his dream. Genesis 41, 9-14. So they cleaned Joseph up and he interpreted Pharoah’s dream as well, and ended up being given the job of coordinating the whole business to prepare for the seven lean years of famine. And he did that job superbly well too, because Joseph had integrity.
In the aftermath of the Watergate scandal many keen thinking analyzed it in three words: compromise of integrity. The tapes reveal eroding of character, lies, duplicity, temptation, moral breakdown, and then rationalization.
Life must be set on a firm foundation. When we fudge on truth and principle, (Just this once), a subtle erosion happens, and we start to lose. If the life ahead we plan calls for compromise of truth, a softening of theology, a wrong in any way, change it. Let the word for you always be, “Follow Me.” His Truth, His Way, that leads to LIFE.
May God bless that walk in integrity.
GPD 6/16/10
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