The Internal Essential

“Judge me, O Lord . . according to my integrity.” Psalm 7:8 NIV

“Transparency is the best safeguard of integrity.”

My thoughts today are about “the internal essential.”

You will meet people in every walk of life that are not always what they seem. In public, they may be careful to be what they should be; in private, they feel safe to be who they really are. That is a lack of integrity. Integrity is more than a matter of being honest with others; integrity is first and foremost being honest with yourself, and with God. It is the internal essential.

Today’s culture does not encourage or seem to widely value real integrity. People of the popular culture are content with image, what they professionally project for others to see. Whether on Main Street or Wall Street – in business, government, entertainment, sports, or just an ordinary person – playing loose with truth seems indulged until someone is dumb enough to be caught publicly in a scandal.  Then, like piranhas, the media and anyone with an opinion delights in tearing down the previous illusion and the person who hid behind it.

Whatever others may do, you cannot allow yourself to compromise integrity, even in the smallest and most hidden of things. Such breaches never remain small or hidden. Real relationships do not survive with less than integrity and honesty. Your relationship with God will not exceed your honesty with Him and humility before Him. That which is hidden separates you from others, and from God.

Integrity does not come naturally to any of us. We are all fallen and sinful by nature and have learned well the trick of covering up and hiding, as did our spiritual parents, Adam and Eve. See Genesis 3. David tried that after Bathsheba and it didn’t work out so well for him then. The goal is to become more careful so there is nothing to cover or hide, not to become more clever about doing so. Read Psalm 25:21 NLT/Proverbs 11:3 NIV/Proverbs 20:7 NKJV.

Jesus warned, “Beware of hypocrisy. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in the closet will be shouted from the housetops.” Luke 12:1-3 NKJV. Leave no secret places from God; it is useless to try that anyway.

Transparency is the best safeguard of integrity. To be transparent means you want only Jesus to be seen every time others look at your life. It is easy to be forthright when you are careful to be upright. It is a pretty good rule that whatever you would be reluctant for others to know about is probably not anything with which you should be involved. Can you be confident to invite God as David did, “Judge me, O Lord . . according to my integrity?” Psalm 7:8 NIV. It’s a good thing when you can do that.

My prayer for you today is to value your heart being always open and pure before the Lord.