In a world of situational ethics and subjective standards, the pursuit of integrity is paramount for every believer!! God is a God of integrity, and it is His desire for His children to look like Him!
So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. Psalm 78:72
Integrity (G8537): integrity, completeness, fullness, innocence, simplicity,
The scripture tells us that God’s desire to shepherd us comes from the integrity of His heart. His intent towards us is in congruence with His actions. He has no hidden agendas. He has no ulterior motives. His heart is pure towards us. The Lord is complete in who He is; as a result He can love us without hypocrisy. He doesn’t just tolerate us or hope that we weren’t around, but He always has open arms towards us, to love and change us.
What is integrity?
Integrity (according to Oxford Dictionary): the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness, the state of being whole and undivided: the condition of being unified, unimpaired, or sound in construction:
A person of integrity is one whose words and lifestyle match up. For a Christian, it also means that our words and our actions match the standard of the Bible. As soon as we claim we are a Christian, we’re declaring we are followers of Christ’s life and teaching.
People of integrity are not afraid to take an unpopular stance. They are not concerned whose agreement they have on a certain matter, but they will stand for their convictions. Joseph out of his integrity rejected sleeping with Potiphar’s wife, and that got him into trouble, false acccusation, and the loss of his job. Nevertheless, he remained a person of integrity before God and man!! What are we willing to lose to remain people of of integrity?
To pursue integrity, we must avoid certain things and hold on to some important character qualities. I will highlight some of them in this next couple of devotionals.
Avoid Hypocrisy
In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. Luke 12:1-3
Hypocrisy: the acting of a stage player
A hypocrite has good showman ship. He/she knows how to play the game and say all the right things to be accepted as part of a crowd or a group of people; but internally, their heart isn’t right, and they have no desire for real change!!
Hypocrites are divided in their behavior. They can be one way with one group and another way with another group, because to them how they are seen is more important than the condition of their heart! They can also act very much in agreement with a person, but gossip or complain behind their back. It is a division about how they really feel about things as opposed to how people perceive them. As a Christian, this affects the conscience of a believer, and if one is not careful we will ignore and suppress the voice of the Holy Spirit!!
A fertile ground for hypocrisy is a place where a lot of rigid rules are established and those that don’t follow them are easily condemned and judged. Sometimes those who set the rules don’t plan to follow their own rules, but they want to ensure that the behavior of others can be controlled by them.
As parents, we have to be careful to live lives that are full of integrity. Our children are watching everything, not just the things that we are intent on teaching them. If we speak about honesty yet in our next phone conversation we give a lame excuse to not attend a function, it shows that honesty is followed only when it’s convenient.
The good news is that we don’t have to be suspicious of people, but recognize that if an individual makes a life style of hypocrisy, sooner or later they will be found out. Their hidden activities will be exposed by God.
The Bible tells us that God delights in a person of integrity. It is His desire for us to be people of integrity and live a life that matches up with His truth and with our own words.
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.
Lord, if there is any area of hypocrisy in me, please show me and change me inside out!!!