Integrity

Integrity

People with integrity have firm footing, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall.

Proverbs 10:9

A person of integrity is honest, sincere, and consistent. In contrast, dishonest people take crooked paths and live in fear of being found out.

Relationships thrive on integrity. In a marriage where both husband and wife are people of integrity, there is security. Children who are blessed with parents of integrity feel secure. Security is a by-product of integrity both for ourselves and for our children.

Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Marriages that lack integrity lack security, as is the case for children who can’t trust their parents. When a person is dishonest, he or she is looking to gain an advantage by disorienting or distracting another person. Although dishonest people might think they are gaining something, they are actually losing something very valuable—trust. “It takes very little misinformation to disorient and destroy a relationship. . . . If I gave a person detailed instructions on how to go from Atlanta to New York City, and I threw in only one left turn that was a lie, they would end up in Oklahoma.”^a

Most of us have heard enough life stories to know that a lack of integrity causes untold pain in any family relationship. If our family of origin modeled integrity, we have been blessed. If not, we have the privilege of choosing a different path and modeling integrity for the next generation. Spending time in God’s Word and opening our hearts to his truth will guide us in our choices to take paths that are straight, not crooked.

Father,

Please help me to be a woman who lives out your truth. I want to take straight paths. Amen.