Set The Standard - Part 3: Integrity

Another aspect of Christian living, which is always under scrutiny is our integrity. Integrity determines how honest someone is, it's an indication of our moral compass.

Lets look first at Matt 5:33-37. Here we see that a person of integrity doesn't need to swear by anything in order for people to believe them. People know that they can be trusted, because they have shown it time and time again. As a believer, if you are not trusted by unbelievers then there is something very wrong. You should be the most trustworthy person they know, you shouldn't have to swear on your children's lives or urge people to 'trust me'.

As well as being trustworthy, having integrity also means you are humble, Matt 6:1-4. A person of integrity doesn't need to tell people all the great things that they do. They don't try to  instantly draw attention themselves, instead others will speak of their good works. When you have integrity, your motivation for doing anything is that it is something that needs to be done and you are in a position to do it, recognition should have nothing to do with it.

And when you pray do not be like the hypocrites...

This also applies to prayer and fasting (Matthew 6:5-18), when we pray we do so in order to communicate with God, not to show others loud we pray, how long we pray or to show off our vocabulary. in the same way, when we fast, we do so in order to focus more on our spiritual needs, its not a means by which to impress people. These things shouldn't be what we rely on to show others that we are children of God. Fasting and prayer for show, does nothing for our relationship with God.

The issue of integrity is also discussed in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), stealing, and coveting another person's property. When we set the standard of integrity, we can walk passed a wallet or mobile phone left on a train or found on the street and not have a desire to keep it for ourselves (or at the very least, hand it in to someone).

Integrity is vital for setting the standard, without it we can not show others that we as Christians are living a life which is any different to theirs.

How do think integrity can set us apart from the world?