Integrity means wholeness. The same man inside and out, in the dark and in the light, in his word and in his deed. The Bible treats it as a treasure rarer and more valuable than wealth, because in a world full of crooked dealings and hidden lives, a person who is the same all the way through is precious to God and useful to people. Let us see what the Scriptures teach.
The Lord Looks for It
God does not measure us by what others see. He looks at the heart, and what He looks for is wholeness. David prayed, "Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee" (Psalm 25:21), and elsewhere, "Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity" (Psalm 26:1). Of King David it is said that he "fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands" (Psalm 78:72). David himself confessed to God, "I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness" (1 Chronicles 29:17). The Lord prizes a whole heart above almost everything else.
Job and the Test of Integrity
Integrity is proven not in calm weather but in storms. When God Himself spoke of Job to Satan, He said, "still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause" (Job 2:3). Job had lost his wealth, his family, and his health. His own wife counseled him, "Curse God, and die" (Job 2:9). His answer was, "What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10). Later, with everything still in ruin, he declared, "till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me" (Job 27:5). Integrity is what holds when everything else has been stripped away.
The Walk of the Upright Is Sure
Solomon repeatedly contrasted the steady, sure path of the upright with the slippery road of the crooked. "He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known" (Proverbs 10:9). "The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them" (Proverbs 11:3). And he weighed it against wealth, saying, "Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich" (Proverbs 28:6). The crooked man may climb fast, but the path is rotten under his feet. The man of integrity walks slower, perhaps, but his footing is sure.
In Word, Deal, and Measure
Integrity is not only a private virtue. It comes out in the way a person does business, the words on his tongue, and the work of his hands. "A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight" (Proverbs 11:1). "Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good" (Proverbs 20:23). "Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight" (Proverbs 12:22). And under the law God said, "Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another" (Leviticus 19:11). The Lord watches the scale at the counter, the words at the table, and the day's work just as closely as the prayer in the closet.
Hold Fast Integrity to the End
The world bends with every wind, and the temptation to bend with it is constant. Daniel, taken captive as a young man and surrounded by Babylonian luxury, "purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself" (Daniel 1:8). He held his ground in small things and in great ones, and God honored it. Job said he would keep his integrity till the day he died. So the Christian, surrounded by a generation that has forgotten what wholeness means, is called to be the same in word and deed, the same in the dark as in the light, and the same when no one is looking as when everyone is. Walk in integrity all the way through, and the Lord Himself will walk with you.