September 6

Integrity is something that is lacking in many quarters today. We have become a people of expedience—do what it takes to get the job done—rather than a people of character who will sacrifice personal goals or desires in order to maintain God’s standard in our day-to-day conduct of our business and ourselves.

When believers in Christ succumb to the world’s standard, when we justify our slump into professional or personal compromise, we are denying the high calling to which the Lord has brought us. He expects more from His people because those who call His name in faith have Him to emulate for their integrity.

While ‘the world’ has only itself and its own values—which seem to worsen by the day—believers in Christ have an unchanging belief system upon which to build their lives and guide their actions and measure their words. If we do not employ His values in governing ourselves, we have virtually turned our backs upon Him. According to Psalm 15:4, 5, this is something we will not do if we are truly His.

It says, “The man who honors those who fear the Lord, who is inflexible in his commitment to His ways, who does not take usury against his own people or bribes against the innocent shall never be shaken.” If we have a true regard for the people of the Lord, if we constrain ourselves from employing unethical tactics in any situation, if we have an absolute commitment to Christ, we will be people who reflect His sterling character, not the compromised integrity of the world.