The Proverbs :: A Guidebook for MenSample

“As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself. Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”

-Nelson Mandela

Integrity is an attractive attribute. Most of us hold on to the definition that insinuates a moral commitment or strength of character that one either has or does not, a kind of pure determination to do what is right and just no matter the circumstance. At that point, integrity becomes an ingrained attribute, either genetically passed on or instilled through teaching.

A second definition is usually reserved for describing a vessel or territory, which lists integrity as a state of being whole and undivided. Taken to its most absolute conclusion, this idea yields a troubling finding for men who daily fall short of perfection: a thing may lose its integrity if a piece of it is removed.

However, this is not news to those of us journeying through the Proverbs.

We recognize that complete and unbroken faithfulness to the wisdom and ways of God is something we have all forsaken at times, handed over for less valuable conquests, which in time returned nothing but emptiness.

Proverbs 11 addresses this issue head-on and allows us to dig deeper and discover the trustworthy source of integrity we can return to daily.

Notice how often in the text Solomon draws a direct line from the righteous to their hope, between those who find favor and the source of that blessing. Similarly, he points out the causes of destruction people bring upon themselves. Integrity has a source, and so does ruin.

We have all had moments where we stood among difficulty and held firm, and we have all given in to the temptation to grab what was easy and immoral. The beauty of Proverbs 11 is that integrity ceases to be about our ability to grit our teeth and fend off the urges of sin by our strength.

Remember 2 Corinthians 5:21:

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Through Christ’s sacrifice, we have become the very righteousness of God, and it is that righteousness that delivers us from the attacks of the enemy and completes within us a state of integrity so long as we depend on Him. Break that connection, pursue wealth and power through unjust ways, put your hope in riches, or give in to perversions of the flesh, and the integrity is broken. Thank God, then, that we have a Savior who restores us and makes all things new.

Examine your own life. Where have you surrendered the complete integrity of wisdom to claim an easier prize? Where have you given in when tempted by lesser rewards? Forgiveness is waiting in repentance, and the path towards a righteous life is before you.

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God, I praise You for Your sacrifice. I fully acknowledge my brokenness and the reality that alone, I stand no chance of being good enough to stand before You. But, Jesus. Because of Him, I am allowed to turn from my sinful ways and live a life according to Your calling. I pray for You to break my heart for what breaks Yours. Reveal the things within me that are not of You and help me shed them off. I want to live a life of purity and integrity, in fullness, the way You created. Amen.