Thought for the day: The importance and rewards of living with great integrity
In recent times it has been almost impossible to avoid hearing about, thinking about and even talking about one of the biggest scandals of recent years: the Epstein/Mandelson saga.
What has been reported suggests that integrity seems to have been almost abandoned in high places, in contrast to the fact that most of us would like to be thought of as people of integrity as we wade our way through the ups and downs of everyday life.
But in case we get carried away with ideas of our own goodness, we do well to get the Bible’s perspective and God’s perspective absolutely clear.
"There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14 which is echoed in Romans 3).
We cannot bluff God, for we read that "the Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (First Samuel 16).
Jesus Himself followed through on this when He said to the religious leaders: “Now then, you …. clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness". (St Luke 11).
Times have not changed, for every day television ads press on us the importance of keeping the house and everything we have clean and fresh. It is a multi-billion-pound industry. But it is a sobering question to ask if we bring the same determination to keeping our hearts and minds clean as David did when we wrote in Psalm 51.10 - "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me!"
The book of Proverbs has much to say on the importance of, and indeed, the rewards of living with great integrity. For example: "Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out." (Proverbs 10). And the next chapter is clear that "the integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity".
A slogan on the London underground sums up this call for integrity from Jesus very well - "Mind the gap! Mind the gap between what you look like on the outside – what people see – and what Christ sees in your heart."
I personally find all these verses to be immensely challenging. My integrity may not be called out day and daily in the news, but the reality is that God sees me exactly as I am, even if others do not. That is a key reason why I need to call on Him with unceasing regularity to guide my steps and keep me from falling into moral and ethical quagmires. There surely is honest work to be done here by each and every one of us, given that we are all fallen people in a fallen world.