Integrity • 1 Peter 3:8-17
By Becky Brown
Character does count in the life of a believer in Jesus. God uses us to make a positive, measurable difference in our world when we can display godliness, humility, contentment and generosity. All of these spiritual characteristics are vital to our daily walk. Personal integrity guards the effectiveness of all the other characteristics.
Picture the scene. Job is sitting on a garbage dump, scraping his open sores with the sharp edge of a piece of broken pottery. His body is literally covered with painful boils. In the space of a few hours in one day, he has lost everything except the roof over his head — all of his wealth, oxen, donkeys, sheep camels, workers, his own personal health and all ten of his children.
Job was in a state of deep grief. He tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground and…worshipped the Lord! He didn’t lash out in blame directed toward God. The book of Job opens with God’s own stellar description of the man himself. He is said to be blameless, which is another word for integrity. He is upright, which means he lives a life of honor recognized and validated by others who know he has lived the right kind of life, saying the right words and doing the right things.
His “nagging” wife dropped by the garbage heap long enough to deliver her much less than encouraging word, “Hey, Job, why don’t you just curse God and die?” She might as well have declared, “Forget the integrity, Honey, we need the insurance!” Delightful lady.
Job remained true to God in spite of enduring some of the worst circumstances imaginable. Job honored God with his life and shunned all forms of evil. Three of his “friends” would come to sit with him for a period of mourning. Like hissing snakes, they would manage to immediately blame Job for committing some grave, undisclosed sin which brought such consequences upon himself.
Peter’s first letter in the New Testament delivers instructions for us concerning the importance of personal integrity. Our lives are divided into compartments or spheres of influence. We live and move in various settings such as home, family, friends, school, work, church and extra-curricular activities.
We cannot (must not) be one sort of person in one place and a different kind of person in another. Our walk with Christ should be so close that we find ourselves centered first on Him. If God is our focus, His Holy Spirit Who dwells inside believers will help us to stand firm in all weathers, in all circumstances, and in all settings. It’s our job, JOB!
Peter encourages his readers (then and now) to live in harmony, sharing sympathy, walking in brotherly loving-kindness with a spirit of humility. We are to make sure that we do not return evil for evil or claw back with insults when that is what is inflicted on us. We must seek to be an immediate blessing toward others. In speech and in behavior through personal practice we should seek peace and pursue it.
People with integrity are zealous for doing good and for pursuing good on behalf of others. Integrity causes us to be ready to suffer when suffering comes our way, knowing that God will work out glory for Himself and good for us through the experience. If we concentrate on putting Christ first, He continues to build us into the people He wants us to be. The sanctification process is just that…a life-long growing process. As we take on more and more of the likeness of Christ, we begin to shed more and more of ourselves along the way. Integrity remains.
We stand prepared at all times to provide a defense to anyone who might inquire about the constant hope they notice in our lives. We endeavor to live a blameless life, assuredly not a sinless one for only Jesus lived a sinless life. Integrity in all of our life settings strengthens our witness for Christ. Such living lets people know we are the same at home as in public, in school as at work, in church on the front row or in the dugout on the ball field.
God wants us to live lives that count for His kingdom. A life that reflects Christ displays godliness, humility, contentment, generosity. Integrity binds these together in perfect harmony, stability, assurance, peacefulness and grace.
GodGrins.
JesusSmiles.
HolySpiritSilentlySighsWithJoyInexpressible.
Brown leads LittleBrownLight Ministries.
