Early last December, when fall still held sway, a strong wind stripped our trees of many of their leaves. A sixty-foot liquid amber, a broad fruitless pear, and a neighbor’s trees all contributed to the mass of leaves covering the ground cover on our south slope and driveway. Wanting to avoid the debris from choking out our ice plant and from drifting onto our neighbors’ yards, I grabbed my leaf blower to blow them off the slope and pushed them into a pile about 3 feet wide, 1 to 2 feet high, and 20 feet in length. A lot of leaves, so I gathered them into a container, about 2x3x4, yet only at most 1/5 of the leaves made it. So I gently pushed them down, re-filled the container, pushed it down, until the container held probably four times more than the initial load. And in the pressing, a couple of verses came to mind.
The principle: be honest, fair, and generous. Do the right thing, even when it costs us, when it brings no benefit, when no one sees or is likely to. We call that integrity—that which is integral to us: our core character. Just one of many verses that show God values honest dealings, “The LORD abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight” (Proverbs 11:1). Merchants would put their thumb on the scale, or use a smaller measuring device, or use inaccurate weights. Honest merchants would do what Jesus referred to, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38). Kind of like pressing down my leaves to fill the container.
Integrity will get us through our difficult struggles. My good friend John Southwood had done some study on Job, and gave me an intriguing insight. Job’s problems far surpass what most of us face, and we think of his patience. But that is just mentioned one time, “You’ve heard of the patience of Job” (James 5:11), but the word “integrity runs through the book. God praised his integrity in Job 2:3, his wife recognized it in 2:9, Job valued it in 27:5 and 31:6. When presented with the opportunity to give up his integrity to get out of the problems, he held on to it. And God honored and blessed him for that.
And when John faced what proved to be terminal cancer with grace and strength, his integrity with God gave him the ability to endure it.
John was working on an uncompleted book on integrity, one desperately needed in our age. We look out for #1, with little care for the impact on others. Maybe we can all be the change we so need. Wouldn’t it change our world to develop an integrity revolution? If followers of Jesus would live to serve others, not to primarily benefit ourselves? To honor God, despite the cost? Yes, we can be taken advantage of when we do. But God will bless us, in ways and depths we can’t imagine. Just read Luke 6:38 above once more. Maybe memorize it.
Kick Starting the Application
Have you thought much about integrity, and how God values it? What are some areas you need to grow in regarding honesty and generosity? What one act can you do this work to express integrity?