The Importance Of Integrity

Here, David is asking God to judge him according to his righteousness and his integrity.

Ask yourself this question, if you were standing before God today, and you asked God to judge you according to your righteousness and your integrity, how would you do? (Would God be proud of you, would you be proud of yourself, or would you be ashamed, do you think that you have a great deal of work left to build your integrity?

Today, we’re going to talk about the importance of integrity.

1. Definition of Integrity – in the Hebrew, the word integrity meant completeness, moral innocence, or perfection. The exact opposite of compromise.

2. Why is your Integrity important

a. It defines to others who you are. When someone thinks of you, inevitably, they will think about whether or not you have integrity. People want to know if you’re for real.

b. It determines how you will react in certain situations. When you are faced with circumstances where you have choice to either do right or do wrong, your integrity, or lack of it, will determine what you do.

c. It demonstrates your spiritual condition. If you have no integrity, then you have a spiritual problem, because God wants us to be righteous, to have integrity.

d. If you lack it, it can damage your testimony. If someone knows that you have no integrity, they will certainly not listen to you when you share the Gospel with them.

BUSINESS PEOPLE/CHRISTIANS

e. It Pleases God. I Chronicles 29:17 says, I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness…

3. What will Integrity do for me?

a. It Blesses Me. Proverbs 20:7 says, The just man walketh in his integrity, his children are blessed after him.

b. It Judges Me. Job 31:6 says, Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. God will judge us according to our righteousness and integrity. Psalms 7:8 that we have already read.

c. It Protects Me. Psalms 25:21 says, Let integrity and uprightness preserve me… Integrity will protect us as we venture through life. Some people spend so much time worrying about what they said to whom, or how they acted in a certain situation because they have no integrity. A person with integrity never has to worry about what story he told to whom, because he will always be telling the same story. His integrity will protect him.

d. It Guides Me. Proverbs 11:3 says, The integrity of the upright shall guide them… Our integrity will guide our steps through life. We will not have to worry what to do in certain situations, because we always trust in God who will direct us.

4. How Do I Get It?

a. You Pursue It With All Your Heart. Spend your lives seeking integrity. Desire it as you make every decision. Base your life on it. Base your WALK on it. Be able to say, like David did in Psalms 26:1, Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity, I have trusted also in the Lord, therefore I shall not slide. When we walk in integrity, we will not slide backward, we will not lose our direction.

b. You Protect It With All Your Heart. Why, because you can easily lose your integrity. If you are not careful, if you don’t seek it, and protect it daily, you may walk away from it.

1. Your daily walk

2. Studying His word

3. Prayer Time

c. You Practice It With All Your Heart. In every decision, in every situation you find yourself in, act with integrity.

d. You Pray For It. Seek God earnestly that He will let you be a man or woman of integrity. Pray that God would use you to be an example to others of what integrity is all about.

Conclusion

Soon, whether you’re a freshman in high school or a person facing retirement, you should live a life of integrity. If you base your life on God’s words and His principles, you will have a life of integrity that can change the world. If the people in your community, in your neighborhood, in your office, in your family, know you as a man or woman of integrity, how much easier will it be for you to share the Gospel with them than if you were known to lack integrity. Having integrity is our choice, let’s choose to do right.

REMEMBER:

What you say should always be what you do because that reflects Who you really are!

Dear Lord, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.