“The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.” Proverbs 10:9
“If you endure suffering even when you have done right God will bless you for it.” 1 Peter 2:20
Read more: 1 Peter 2:11-12
“Dear friends, I ward you as ‘temporary residents and foreigners’ to keep away from worldy desires that wage war against your very souls.” (v. 11)
Integrity starts with ‘I’. It begins with the daily ways in which we interact with our classmates and teachers, bosses and colleagues, church leaders and fellow church buddies. A person of integrity is not divided and does not live in pretense. He or she is made whole and their lives are open books with nothing to hide (God’s Outrageous Claims, Lee Stroebel). A Christian with integrity recognises the need to match his or her beliefs with behaviour. Because Christians say, “Do unto others as we want to be treated,” they should not hold back an act of kindness. Because Christians say that it is a sin to lie, they should tell the truth when they’ve done wrong or are late for work. Because Christians believe that every life is precious to God, they should live out that value in Christ-like manner. Living our faith does not mean living it only on weekends when we head to church, but living it with integrity when we exercise our beliefs in Jesus Christ every day. Faith is supposed to be an everyday reality.
Sometimes living with integrity requires us to make a sacrifice. A price has to be paid when we stand up to uphold sound moral standards. For instance, a student risks alienation when she tells her teacher about classmates who cheated during a common test, or an office worker makes his colleagues look bad when he makes a strong stand against pilfering office supplies, or a businessman loses millions when he stops the sales of X-rated material. The latter is the story of Jack Eckerd, owner of a chain of drugstores, a few days after he became a Christian (God’s Outrageous Claims, Lee Stroebel). Eckerd strolled into one of his stores one day when he saw racks of pornographic magazines on sale. Seeing the situation through the eyes of a new Christian, he immediately ordered all such magazines removed from all of his drugstores. When asked if he did that because of his Christian beliefs, he replied, “Of course. Why else would I throw a few million dollars out the window?”
Though the price of living with integrity seems high, it beats the greater damage done to our character if we had yielded to the worldly desires. In fact, we can impact the world when we live with integrity. The truth is, it takes individuals to commit to morality in order to have a rise in the ethical temperature of the society we live in. Jack Eckerd’s decision against pornography created a widespread influence in his entire country. He wrote to presidents of other drugstore chains to do the same. Coupled with pressure by Christian organisations, stores began removing X-rated material and stepped up efforts to keep them away from children. Charles Colsen, a friend of Eckerd’s said, “What couldn’t be accomplished by passing laws or fighting in courts was accomplished when a man gave his life to Christ and surrendered to his lordship.” (Eckerd: Finding the Right Prescription, pg 190)
We are foreigners in this world where the devil’s vices run deep. There is no doubt that we have to play to be winners, but we don’t have to play by rules of aggression. Instead of winning by lying, cheating, cruel means, practise Jesus’ guidelines for integrity - be honest, decent and loving. The world will hate you for it and the devil will tempt you to push God’s rules aside, but remember that it is God who blesses you to be a victorious person for doing the right thing.
This is part IV of V of the series on The Victorious Christian
August 28th, 2008 by 
Mei Cheng
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