a battle for integrity

from Insight for living by Chuck Swindoll

A Battle for Integrity

by Charles R. Swindoll

I must tell you that I have
been troubled regarding the face of things in our country and within
the family of God. My major battle has had to do with one word, one
concept. My battle has to do with integrity.

In our nation—and in the
church—there has been a falling away, a breakdown, and a compromise in
integrity. Recent headlines have taught us that the boom of the 1990s
was built on a foundation devoid of integrity. But compromise isn’t
limited to CEOs who greedily sell out their employees or to pork-happy
politicians. All too often we find a moral laxity behind our pews and,
even worse, behind the pulpit.

Let me define what I mean by integrity. Webster’s tells us integrity means “an unimpaired condition.”¹  It means to be sound. The Hebrew word for integrity, tom, also means to be complete or solid.

So he shepherded them according to the integrity (tom) of his heart, And guided them with his skillful hands. (Psalm 78:72)

Integrity is completeness or
soundness. You have integrity if you complete a job even when no one is
looking. You have integrity if you keep your word even when no one
checks up on you. You have integrity if you keep your promises.
Integrity means the absence of duplicity and is the opposite of
hypocrisy. If you are a person of integrity, you will do what you say.
What you declare, you will do your best to be. Integrity also includes
financial accountability, personal reliability, and private purity. A
person with integrity does not manipulate others. He or she is not
prone to arrogance or self-praise. Integrity even invites constructive
and necessary criticism because it applauds accountability. It’s sound.
It’s solid. It’s complete.

Integrity is rock-like. It
won’t crack when it has to stand alone, and it won’t crumble though the
pressure mounts. Integrity keeps one from fearing the white light of
examination or resisting the exacting demands or close scrutiny. It’s
honesty at all costs.

The words of Louis Adamic
seem fitting, “There is a certain blend of courage, integrity,
character, and principle which has no satisfactory dictionary name but
has been called different things at different times in different
countries. Our American name for it is ‘guts.’”²

I like that. Integrity is
having the guts to tell the truth, even if it may hurt to do so.
Integrity is having the guts to be honest, even though cheating may
bring about a better grade. Integrity is having the guts to quote
sources rather than plagiarize.

But there are some things
integrity is not. It is not sinless perfection. A person with integrity
does not live a life absolutely free of sin. No one does. But one with
integrity quickly acknowledges his failures and doesn’t hide the wrong.

Now, in addressing this
crucial mark of character, I could come across as the “white knight,”
but you know me better than that. I fail like everyone else. The sooner
you remember that, the better we’ll get along. But concerning the issue
of integrity, I give you my word. You will know if I have failed or if
Insight for Living has failed in some way. I will tell you. I will not
lead you to believe something is true if it is false. That is the least
I can do as a minister of the Gospel.

Integrity is essential in
the church, in the marketplace, and especially in the home. When you
walk in integrity, you leave it as a legacy for your children to follow
(Proverbs 20:7). It’s what I call the father’s thumbprint. Blessed are
you if you had a father with integrity and a mother with guts.

When you work with
integrity, you honor the Lord. Regardless of your profession, your
character and conduct are methods of ministry. Over 50 years ago, Elton
Trueblood wrote,

It is hard to think of any job in which the moral element is lacking. The skill of the dentist is wholly irrelevant if he is unprincipled and irresponsible. There is little, in that case, to keep him from the extracting teeth unnecessarily, because the patient is usually in a helpless situation. It is easy to see the harm that can be done by an unprincipled lawyer. Indeed, such a man is far more dangerous if he is skilled than if he is not skilled.3

Do you put wire in walls? Do
you repair cars? Do you work with numbers? Do you sell clothes? Perhaps
you practice law or medicine. The important thing is not what work you
do, but whether you do your work with integrity. Perhaps you labor
behind the scenes, and your only thanks is the inner satisfaction of a
job done right. Do you cheat on your exams? Are you cheating on your
mate? Some have the audacity to do such things and call themselves
Christians. No wonder the world is confused!

You want to shock the
world? Start here . . . demonstrating the guts to do what’s right when
no one is looking. It takes real guts to stand strong with integrity in
a culture weakened by hypocrisy. Start today.

  ¹Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10^th ed. See “integrity.”
  ²Louis Adamic, A Study in Courage, 1944, as quoted by John Bartlett in Familiar Quotations, 13^th ed. (Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown & Co., n.d.), 981.
  ³Elton Trueblood, as quoted by Charles R. Swindoll in Leadership: Influence that Inspires (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1985), 35.