Understanding God, Myself, and the WorldExemplo

The power of integrity

Our ultimate purpose in life is to become like Jesus. We are to reflect His character in our lives. This means that we must be holy just as Christ is holy. But as Christians, we are not immune to the temptation to sin. Sin wants to destroy our Christ-likeness. It wants to take away that one quality that speaks louder than anything else about who we are as God’s children: Integrity. But what is integrity and why do we need it? 

Psalm 86 provides us with a template for developing our integrity. The psalmist moves from a vision of who God is to an understanding of where his heart should be.  The “heart” in the Bible is a symbol for the seat of our self. Your heart is what makes you unique. It is the sum of your will, intellect, emotions, and character. It is also where your integrity dwells. The word “integer” refers to a whole unit, and integrity refers to a singleness of purpose. It creates the image of a person being made of a single block. There is a wholeness to the person. We are not pulled into different directions by various temptations and sins. We are one whole person even as God is One. With such a person, what you see is what you get! This is what the psalmist means when he says “unite my heart to fear your name” (Psalm 86:11, ESV). Integrity thus allows us to be able to say “no” to temptations. It guards our boundaries and our worth as children of God, because our heart is united to fear God. 

There are also two very real threats to our integrity: Self-righteousness and shame. Self-righteousness destroys integrity because we are unable to examine ourselves, because we believe we are without sin. Shame destroys our integrity because we do not feel worthy to be called children of God. When we fall for temptations, integrity is what keeps us humble on the one hand to be able to admit our mistakes, but also what helps us to see who we truly are (children of God) so that we don’t give up in our fight against the sins in our lives. The beautiful truth is that we are never alone in our fight against sin. The Holy Spirit is always there as our Guide and Helper. He is also the One who empowers us to walk in integrity.

Spend a few minutes in prayer and ask God to show you any areas in your life that might be damaging your integrity. Ask God to help you to bring these areas into alignment with His Word.