integrity Archives – Sonshine's Journal

July 18, 2022July 18, 2022

Two types of people

Proverbs 19-22 There are people with integrity and those who are the scorners/scoffers. Maybe like me, you too struggle with these people. They draw my ire, and I find them to be despicable.

Now, sometimes as we read, we come across a pithy saying that tells us what God is really looking for in a person. He says scoffers bring about contention and strife, so drive them out! [Prov 22:10] and Prov 19:1 “Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is perverse in his speech and is a fool.” So we see the truth, but just as Jesus taught with examples, we also find teaching examples,

For example, King Ahab and his wife Jezebel were biblical characters that lacked integrity. They also were scoffers who scoffed at God. In sharp contrast was Naboth, the vineyard keeper, a poor man but a man of integrity. He lived next door to the palace, and he tended his land because it was his ancestral inheritance, and he would not relinquish it even for a penny—even to a king! It was not the money, but it all boiled down to integrity. But King Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard, so he stooped to deceit and murder to get it. God told Elijah to tell Ahab that He would bring disaster upon his ancestral line because of his sin of murder and his lack of integrity. He lacked the honesty of Naboth through and through.

The lesson for us is in the proverb: God looks for someone who exemplifies integrity, like Naboth. Am I a Naboth or King Ahab? OUCH!

June 6, 2021June 6, 2021

Beware of the Winking Eye!

Proverbs 10 One can learn much from the eye. The Proverbs author reminds the reader that a winking eye or the shifty eye reveals a scheming person who seeks to move from thinking a terrible deed to executing that deed by signaling the plan to unscrupulous companions. The expression “winks the eye” refers to secret signs or hidden messages sent to an accomplice. As the king, David learned early on how to detect those who were using this hypocritical signal. He was aware of this strategy and prayed: “Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me; Nor let those who hate me without cause wink maliciously.” [Ps 35:19]Solomon also noted this pattern and why he wrote this as wise counsel to his sons and others.

Why do we need to be wary of these patterns? He who winks the eye uses subtle or secretive means. In contrast, he who would be wise is thus forewarned and prepared against this hypocrisy. Those who are wise will learn to identify and avoid those persons.

Beware of these by befriending them so that you are secure in your integrity.

January 10, 2019

A Pot boils over….

boiling-pot gen 31 Genesis 31 Today’s world mirrors what we see in the lives of Jacob and Laban. Neither were men of integrity, the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. One will come to be after some testing while the other will remain steadfastly ignorant of the ways of God and His refining work.

Because Jacob lacked this quality, God placed Jacob in the school of the boiling pot with Uncle Laban being the cook. God allowed Jacob to simmer in Laban’s pot for 26+ yrs. for two wives and 2 concubines so he would learn what God desired. Like a pot that finally comes to boil, Jacob’s emotions boiled over. Jacob and his wives came to understand that Laban would never change. A deceiver will be a deceiver unless God changes their heart. And so Jacob chose to leave surreptitiously while Laban was away. Laban’s true character is revealed when he became furious, not that Jacob and his children were gone, but his idols were missing! Even so, God, in his mercy reached out to Laban speaking to him how to face Jacob.

There are some lessons in this story. The first one is that without God’s intervention, we all are similar to both men. Secondly, God blesses men of integrity but those who are not will face God’s refining fire with the purpose of a heart change. Thirdly, God can and will protect those He has called from those who are not.

So where are you in this story? Perhaps this prayer of David’s is fitting: “Examine me, O Lord, and test me! Evaluate my inner thoughts and motives.” [Ps 26:2]

August 24, 2015

Pearls and Faithful People

Prov 20:6 “Many people profess their loyalty, but a faithful person – who can find?” They are like the pearl of great price. They are “a righteous man who walks in his integrity…” [vs 7]. To find these faithful ones we must be willing to search with “the ear that hears and the eye that sees—the Lord has made them both.” We must be discerning because many are they that are duplicitous or hypocritical.

Listen to the words of Jesus: “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from brambles. The good person out of the good treasury of his heart produces good, and the evil person out his evil treasury produces evil, for his mouth speaks from what fills his heart.” [Luke 6]

Thus we who would be wise should know this precious truth: “There is gold, and an abundance of rubies, but words of knowledge are like a precious jewel” and it is in Jesus Christ that we can find all the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge. [Col 2] So if we want to find this faithful person we must hide these pearls of wisdom and entrust ourselves to the Illuminating Holy Spirit for revelation.

May 22, 2014

INTEGRITY….A WORD FOR TODAY

The dictionary defines integrity as being honest, strong moral principles and moral uprightness. In Psalm 26 King David boasted that he had walked in integrity and is walking in integrity. He had made a choice early on to choose that manner of life. It is a consistency in our actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. Interestingly, the opposite of integrity, truth and light, is hypocrisy which is a false façade of being a person with integrity but inwardly choosing the opposing forces of deception and darkness. These will be exposed as King David revealed in Psalm 26 as one views the lifestyle and associations of a person. Jesus remarked that just as a tree bears fruit so does a person and they will be known by them.

In the field of computers there is a pun known as “GIGO” which equals “garbage in garbage out.” Although technologically proficient a computer has no brain. In fact computers will unquestioningly process the most nonsensical of input data (garbage in) and produce nonsensical output (garbage out). How often do we behave in this manner? This is why Paul emphasized that we as a people of God must wisely develop a mindset. King David wrote that he loved the Law of God and meditated upon it day and night. What does your mind dwell upon? Paul gave us some parameters on which we should dwell. The first step is to measure our thoughts by using this as a yardstick: think about whatever is true, worthy of respect, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent or praiseworthy. But, it does not end there; one must then take the next step and put into practice what you have meditated upon so that we produce fruits of righteousness.

If we want to be a people of integrity who can say that they have walked and are continuing to walk in this manner it begins in the mind. That is why Paul wrote to the Corinthians: we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ. [2Co 10:5] and to the Romans he challenged to be “transformed by the renewing of our mind.” It is then that we can like David boast that we have walked and are continuing to walk in integrity.

Today’s questions are (1) on what are you meditating and (2) where is your mindset and (3) what are you practicing?