Day 24: Say Yes to Integrity

This chapter points out the fact that the things we often see as a probem in other peoples' lives are really just us projecting our faults onto them. Instead of making the other person feel stupid, our response ought to be to check ourselves and see if we have those faults, and then work to get rid of them. And a neat spiral can come of this: we see a problem in someone else -> we realize we have the same problem -> we start to fix it -> the other person sees this and wants to change as well. Everybody wins! Wea also have to start thinking ahead and decide to do the right thing before the situation comes up. If we are involved with some kind of immorality, be it in our personal life, business, career, or whatever, we need to plan to get out of it, and we need accountability. Very few things change for people who try to fight on their own against bad habits or restore broken relationships. How much better (and in some ways easier) it is to let someone you know and trust support you, pray for you, and encourage you as you go through whatever it is that you're facing. I think the opposite of integrity is complacency, because when we are complacent we are satisfied with whatever is wrong and do not want to change. Involving a trusted friend pushes us out of that complacenty and towards integrity.

How do we choose integrity? We can speak the truth about ourselves. We lie best when we lie to ourselves, and we lie best when we lie about ourselves. It's really easy to cover things up to the point where we forget where the lie ends and the truth begins. Second, we can be honest about our faults. It tells us in James 5:16 that we need to admit our faults and pray for each other. That doesn't mean that EVERYONE needs to know your problems, but we should find someone to hold us accountable and lift us up (which was kind of discussed above). Finally, we can ask for God's help. We have to remember that temptations are just as much a chance for righteousness as they are for sin, and that He has told us we won't be tempted beyond what we can handle and that He will provide a way out (and when you start to realize what that verse really is telling us, you'll start to see it in your life too: a phone call, a distracting noise, a random encounter with someone, all sorts of things He can use to let us escape from the lies and deceptions of Satan).

Point to Ponder: Integrity means making up your mind in advance to do the right thing.
That makes a lot of sense to me. If we approach every situation with the attitude of "no matter what, I will do what God wants me to," then there's never any reason for us to be saying/doing something we shouldn't. And it's not just the actions that others see that makes us have integrity; it's doing the right thing even when no one is watching. What's the phrase. . . . "Integrity is doing the right thing whether everyone's watching or no one is." Something like that.

Verse to Remember: 1 Chronicles 29:17- "I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity."
After all, He sees everything we do, so if you think about what was stated above, integrity means approaching every situation with God's eyes. He knows our every move and intention, so if we seek integrity, we need to yield every thought and action to His will and standard. What could be more pleasing to Him and more fruitful for us than that?

Question to Consider: Who in your life can you admit your faults to and be confident that they will pray for you?
As stated in an earlier entry (week 2 sometime, maybe Day 13?), I am so blessed to have someone like this in my life.