"but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ."
-Ephesians 4:15
The next and final value I chose for this activity was integrity. Integrity is a very difficult value to practice, because it goes against our nature. As a matter of fact, all of the values I chose are difficult to practice. As difficult as these values are to uphold, I believe that they are crucial for us to practice to grow as disciples of Christ. So what is integrity? By strict definition, integrity means "the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles". This is a very good definition, but it doesn't cover the entirety of what integrity is. What's interesting is the secondary definition of integrity, "the state of being whole and undivided". I'll talk about both of these definitions today.
When integrity is mentioned, many times it is associated with honesty and truth. Integrity certainly has a lot to do with both of these things. A person with integrity is an honest one who speaks the truth. Not everyone who is honest is described as having integrity though. If a person constantly tells others what he/she thinks is true, that person is often described as blunt, candid, or even naive. That person is not necessarily a person of integrity. What distinguishes a person of integrity is their knowledge of the truth. Not only do they speak honestly, they speak what is true.
Another special characteristic of people with integrity is their consistency. Remember, the second definition of integrity is "the state of being whole and undivided". I found this fascinating because it perfectly describes one who has integrity. Consistency and integrity are very closely related, as one who has integrity must also have consistency. There is a subtle difference however; a person with consistency doesn't necessarily have integrity. How so? A person can either be consistently good, or consistently evil. Either way, they still portray consistency in their life. A person with integrity cannot be evil, because by definition integrity describes one who has moral principles.
Integrity is not an easy thing to have. It requires not only that we speak the truth, but that we also know the truth. There are so many different ideas about what truth is in the world today, and it is difficult to uphold the truth of God. People constantly attack Christians because they think Christians believe in a lie. The sad thing is that this is their natural response to Christians today. It is not sad that people oppose Christianity; it is sad that we give them a good reason to. Integrity is more than knowing the truth, it is speaking the truth and also living the truth. How can we expect others to believe in God if our lives don't reflect that we believe in Him?
I hope you learned something from reading about these different values I wrote about. All these values are not easy to practice, and I certainly do not uphold them as I should. I also realize that I did not do the best job writing about these values, but I just tried to write my view on these things. May God help us to live for Him.
-Smart
(P.S. If you ever have anything you would like me to write about, just ask in the comments. I am always open to suggestions and quite frankly I could really use some. Thank you.)
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