February 21
“A righteous man who walks in his integrity – how blessed are his sons after him.” Proverbs 20:7
How can I improve my reputation and my integrity? How can I go from being a person who is not known for his integrity to a person who is? How can I restore my integrity once I have lost it?
Well, the first thing is to value integrity highly – I mean, very highly. I can say that there have been times when I have not valued my integrity as highly as I ought to have; I was not aware of how important it was. Treat integrity and a clear conscience before the Lord as perhaps the greatest treasures you could pursue on this earth, more important than success, money, love, comfort, and anything else. Really think through what you would give your integrity up for, what you would prefer to have or attain over an excellent reputation and a clear conscience. Would you trade these for a million dollars? a hundred million? Would you prefer to be known as a liar and deceiver and have a luxurious, care-free life, or would you prefer to have integrity before God and man and be poor and lonely the rest of your life? Under what circumstances could you be enticed to commit adultery? Really asking yourself these hard questions can help you identify where you are weak and where you are not valuing your integrity highly enough.
Improving and increasing one’s integrity is essentially the elimination of things from one’s life that decrease our integrity. Doing things, even spiritual things, does not improve our integrity. Integrity is wrapped up in who we are, not what we do. It is embodied in how we think. It is revealed in our priorities. It is how we respond under pressure and when tempted. It is how we behave in private when no one sees. My recommendation for anyone who seeks to improve or restore their integrity is to cry out to God daily for purity of heart and mind, for holiness and truth in the innermost being, for Him to remove every hurtful way and impure thought from you. Ask Him to reveal areas where you need to focus. Ask Him for help and encouragement from others. Ask others to give you feedback and help you make radical and permanent changes.
Immorality and sexual impurity, including pornography, is a huge area, so start by asking God to remove from you every impure thought and evil desire. Confess your sins to trustworthy and concerned individuals, and ask their help in keeping you accountable. Eliminate even the ability to put yourself in a position to be tempted by these things. Make holiness your number one goal in life. “Pure and pleasing” in all things should be the highest daily goal.
Recovering our integrity may be a long and difficult task. Learning prudence and self-control may seem impossible now, but it isn’t. Satan may have you feeling so discouraged and so defeated that you may have lost all hope of every achieving victory and regaining your integrity. Don’t fall for this, and don’t believe Satan’s lies. All of us make mistakes and sin in very serious ways. God will forgive us when we ask Him, and He will restore us when we seek that from Him with all our hearts.
Make it your life’s goal, stick with it, persevere, apply the 24 principles of overcoming temptation, cry out to God often, and do anything and everything necessary to eliminate stumbling blocks from your life. Don’t stop at anything until the Lord gives you complete victory and integrity in the innermost person, where it all starts.