Family Friday 8/26/22
But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me." Psalm 26:11
There was a time in our history not so long ago when a man's last name meant something. I can remember growing up how my father used to tell me to never be ashamed of my last name and to defend the honor of my last name with my integrity. As I grew into a young man, and then into married life, and now have a family of my own I have strived to maintain a standard of honor of my father's name and my grandfather's name through my integrity.
This is not only true for me but it is also true for you. There should be a value to the honor of your family name. The honor of the family name is upheld by integrity. We must teach integrity to our children so that they too can maintain the honor of the family name through integrity. Yet, we will be unable to teach our children integrity unless we ourselves practice integrity in our life.
What is integrity? Integrity is defined as moral purity, incorruptness, uprightness, and honesty. It is a great summary of what God wants us to be in our lives as His children preserving the honor of His family name. It is pleasing to Him that we should have integrity.
"And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever." (Psalm 41:12)
Dear Parents, let us never forget that laying a foundation of integrity in the home is a full-time job. Our children seem to hear everything we say and pick up on everything we do, therefore we dare not let our guard down, our integrity cannot be feigned, it must be genuine. It must be a part of who we are through and through. When our integrity is genuine and shining at home as well as when in public, it will be noticed by our children and they will be motivated to follow in your footsteps of integrity.
"The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him." (Proverbs 20:7)
There are three special things that we need to make our children understand about integrity. We can teach these to our children verbally, but we should also show them by example.
INTEGRITY COMES FROM THE HEART
" So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart..." (Psalm 78:72)
The Psalmist here is speaking of God, how that he fed the nation of Israel according to the integrity of His heart. Yet, this passage also shows us where integrity comes from. Integrity comes from the desire for integrity within, it truly comes from the heart. True integrity stays the same and does not waiver regardless of the environment it is in or the situation that it faces. Integrity is not situational ethics. True integrity comes from the heart.
INTEGRITY SERVES AS A GUIDE
"The integrity of the upright shall guide them..." (Proverbs 11:3) True integrity is as sure as a compass to the wandering traveler. It is the guide that directs our steps and shows our path. Integrity will direct us closer to the mighty hand of God bringing us unto the steps of His delight.
INTEGRITY IS PRICELESS
"Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool." (Proverbs 19:1)
Never sacrifice integrity for fiscal gains. There is no monetary value on earth that outweighs the value of good sound integrity. As the Scriptures say it would be better to monetarily poor with integrity than to be rich and be a fool.