Mine Integrity

My 12-year-old asked me what integrity means… Have you ever tried to define that word before? I want to say it’s honesty, while also knowing there’s so much more to it than that. By definition, integrity does include honesty, but also things like moral values, completeness, or soundness. 

If we were to evaluate our own level of integrity, we first need to assess our moral values. What really matters at the very core of our lives? When the superficial “noise” is stripped away, where does your heart rest? Do the things you find there make you feel whole? Do they reflect your best self? Provide a level of satisfaction and peace? 

I was leading a youth group leadership training one morning, and challenged them to take a moment to decide what they, individually, would like to work on within a specific part of their leadership. In the quiet, I decided to do the same, and was instantly inspired to do a really difficult but needful thing within our group. I immediately voiced my struggle to the youth so that they could see that it is sometimes uncomfortable to do the right thing… But we do the right thing anyway. To me, that’s also part of integrity. 

I remember being tempted to do something that lacked integrity back when I was a teenager. I don’t think it was too terribly grave or I would not have shared it with my dad, who said something like, “Is this worth compromising your entry to heaven?” Perhaps a small thing from a teen wouldn’t keep them out of heaven, but it may start them on a path that could lead to that. All the same, the principle remains. The prophet Job, who had every reason to falter in his integrity, declared: “… till I die, I will not remove mine integrity from me” (Job 27:5). And I believe he’s right – we remove our integrity from ourselves. We choose to step away from those heart-deep values that center and complete us. If we are to stand before God and account for our lives, is the guilt from a lack of integrity worth it? Integrity really is one of those pearly gates questions!

Unfortunately, the world we live in is getting foggier, the lines are blurring, black and white is ever-more graying. How do we maintain integrity when things are so upended, so confusing and convoluted? How do we know which way is up? How do we keep the end in sight, when the pathway is getting darker and darker and voices are getting louder and louder? 

We go back to where we started…What matters at the very core? What are the values you can stand on and shout back at the lying voices? What is irrefutable in your heart? Do not remove your integrity from you… for anything.