Simple Integrity

Tis 4 a.m. and sleep left hours ago.....

And I have wrestled with that thing called.....

Integrity.......

Oh not my own....

But rather the integrity of another...........

Wikepedia offered these thoughts.....

Integrity is the basing of one's actions on an internally consistent framework of principles. Depth of principles and adherence of each level to the next are key factors. One is said to have integrity to the extent that everything one does is derived from the same core set of values. While those values may change, it is their consistency with each other and with the person's actions that determine one's degree of integrity.

Integrity can be viewed as personal honesty, acting according to one's beliefs and values at all times. It can emphasize the "wholeness" or "intactness" of a moral stance or attitude. Relevant views of wholeness may also emphasize commitment and authenticity.

Integrity can be seen as a virtue in that accountability and moral responsibility are often indicated as necessary tools for maintaining consistency between one's actions and one's principles, methods and measures, especially when an expected result is incongruent with observed outcome.

The one overriding concept pounding in my spirit this early predawn morning....

Integrity comes out of the person....

It is either there or not...

There is not substitute for it....

There is no excuse for lack of it.......

Proverbs offered this to me this morning.....

The just man walketh in his integrity : his children are blessed after him. 11:3

The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. 20:7

You have it or you do not...

This brings me to another conclusion....

If one is an adult and does not have it...

There is only one place to get it....

Therefore the pursuit of integrity rests completely upon every man...

We each choose to embrace it and walk in integrity...

Or we choose to neglect it and be destroyed by the lack thereof.....

Job's story began with an issue over his integrity...

It ended with his own words of declaration....

Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity . 31:16

God's balance is always even....

God's side of the balance is constant...

The tale is told though when we place our integrity on the other side and truth is revealed in us.....

For truth is always revealed....

And integrity, or lack thereof....

Never kept secret....

Oh, one may hide it for a season....

But given time and chance.....

Every man will be placed on that balance and his integrity will be measured and revealed.......

And there is absolutely nothing anyone else can do about it....

A man measures up or he does not.....

The Psalmist spoke to my heart......

Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; 25:21

And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity; 42:12

Integrity upholds and preserves....

In the grand scheme of life....

Little else matters....

Blessings...

rks