“Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord...They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths.” (Psalm 119:1, 3 NLT)
Marathon cheaters have come up with different ways to shrink the distance they run during a race. The microchips on race bibs register the time at various checkpoints. In order to trick the system, some runners will drop off the course after a checkpoint, take shortcuts, and reappear before the next checkpoint. There have even been cases where people take buses, trains, and ride bicycles between checkpoints. In contrast, there are runners who won’t even take a shortcut on a training run. They might be running by themselves, and no one else cares if they are running 10 miles or 9.9 miles. But it matters to them. They know that by cutting corners in training, they are only cheating themselves.
People of integrity have an internal consistency. They are honest, straightforward, and sincere even when no one else is holding them accountable. They stick by their principles. Their behavior is coherent with their morals. They don’t make deals with evil. In a world where winning is prized above all else, uncompromising integrity is not popular.
As Christians, we should be known for our integrity. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Every day, we have many choices to make. Do we cut corners? Or do we follow along the paths of righteousness? Do we make compromises in order to be popular? Or do we remain steadfast to our principles? Do we honor our commitments? Are our actions and speech coherent? There are no checkpoints along the route of life monitoring our integrity. We have to do this for ourselves. Whatever we gain dishonorably is worthless, even if the rest of the world thinks otherwise.
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