Building Integrity Series

TIPS: Bible Study, Small Group, Accountability partner

How I can build integrity? 3. Always tell the truth When you live with integrity, you are open and honest. Your life is uncomplicated and less stressful, simpler. Simply let your ’Yes’ be ’Yes,’ and your ’No,’ ’No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:37 (NIV)

King Solomo warns: “Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip.” Proverbs 4:24 (MSG) Willard Harley identifies 4 types of liars: protector liars, avoid conflict liars, look good liars, and pathological liars (Harley: Love Busters), and identifies dishonesty as a major “love buster” in marriages. There are many ways we lie: Can you shout out a few? (we gloss over, we omit, we embellish, we promise too much/too soon; we spin, we distort). When you talk out of both sides of your mouth, it obscures God to others and repels others from you. So talk truth, not trash.

How I can build integrity? 4. Do what I say Integrity means you stick to your personal code of conduct. You stick to what you decide is right and wrong. You execute; walk your talk; follow-through. You’ve heard that timeless piece of advice: say what you mean and mean what you say, or “walk your talk?” Be doers -and not just hearer’s- of God’s truth found in the Scriptures, particularly the gospels. Listen to these comments by the apostle Paul: “Our responsibility is never to oppose the truth, but to stand for the truth at all times.” 92 Corinthians 13:8, NLT). Doing what you believe to be true or right is standing for truth in the most basic way, isn’t it? True to yourself, your ethics, and –if based upon God’s revealed standards of right & wrong- true to your God! How can we “stand for truth? Listen to the way the Amplified translation advises us: ..let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Ephesians 4:15 (Amplified translation). Communicate clearly, follow-up consistently: that’s a sure-fire way of developing integrity.

Tip: Keep my commitments. Honor your word, finish what you start, show up! Listen to what James says: “put out of your life every evil thing and every kind of wrong. Then in gentleness accept God’s teaching that is planted in your hearts, which can save you. Do what God’s teaching says; when you only listen and do nothing, you are fooling yourselves.” James 1:21-22 (NCV) Have you been fooling yourself about having integrity? Have you gotten into a rut of not practicing what you preach? Do you sense a need for greater consistency between what you say and what you do? Then it’s time to invite God to empower and guide you to develop greater ingegrity.

I invite you pray something like this. “Jesus, I want to be a person of integrity --to please You, to influence others for good. I desire the blessing of integrity in my own life. But I need Your help and power to do the right thing. Show me where I lack integrity; where I’ve compromised your truth; where I don’t act like Jesus. Forgive me to the ways in which I’ve not been true, spoken truth, or acted in line with my beliefs or been hypocritical. Thank you that, In Christ, I am forgiven. Help me to find a daily time to allow you to search my heart and point out the hypocrisy I allow. Give me the strength and conviction to always tell the truth, and to do what I say. Jesus, I invite you to reproduce your character and integrity in me; I open my heart to you, and your radical make-over of it. Thank you for making me into the person you want me to become. In Your name I pray, Jesus. Amen.”