Integrity
What does that mean for you? The dictionary definition goes something like this: “It is living by a strict moral and ethical code, honest and above-board.” A statesman of a long ago age said, “A liar needs a good memory” Quintillian.
Mark Twain echoed that thought when he said, “If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything”. He fleshed out this thought with, “Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”
Moses in the Bible Book of Exodus wrote: (MSG) “Don’t link up with a wicked person and give corrupt testimony.“ Don’t go along with the crowd in doing evil and don’t fudge your testimony just to please the crowd,: Exodus 23. 2.3. And added, “Don’t take bribes. Bribes blind perfectly good eyes and twist the speech of poor people.” v.8.
The summer Olympics are underway, and the authorities have standard tests to find if athletes have been using stuff to enhance their performance. Because drugs have been playing a part in many such, bike races, and in football. Players have been suspended for games because, unwittingly according to them, they used a substance disallowed by the system.
Now there is Missy Franklin, a high school senior from Colorado who has won gold, and is setting new records, and is being pursued by companies to accept their cash for her feats. So far she has said "No", because she wishes to swim in college too, and the ruling body insists on such swimmers to be amateurs.
And then there is politics. Archie B. Carroll, Professor of Management, University of Georgia, who said: “As religion and faith are being driven out of the public square, the Judea-Christian ethical foundations that have sustained our country since the beginning are being lost, replaced with a . . .self-centered, pragmatic indifference that will ensure that our moral compasses will fail to point in the right direction in the future.”
That’s a scary thought, and it is there because too often the American proverb proves true. “Don’t measure your neighbor’s honesty by your own”.
Instead, hear what God asks of us. ”Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” That truth remains ever.
GPD 8/1/12
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