CODE IV 

I will not cheat in anything, personal or professional. 

BIBLE READING: Proverbs 10:9

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. 

DEVOTIONAL: 

The Bible has a lot to say about how we should live a life of integrity, the world has a lot to say about cheating! 

So many politicians, leaders, diplomats, athletes, businessmen and women, poor people, rich people, people in the middle, parents, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, the list goes on and on, have and are living their lives saturated with deception and cheating. 

So what? What's a little cheat on the expenses form, or a few moments thinking about the neighbour's wife sunbathing in the garden again? The truth is, it will burn and consume all you have and leave you with nothing but the trophy of disappointment and bitterness. Still want it? 

Integrity is something that can't be bought or borrowed, read about or faked. Integrity is a consistent level of strong moral principles that, like a code, shape the way a person lives. 

Some of you might remember the bug and hammer game at the local fun fair. A grid of 6 holes containing these bugs, and sporadically a bug will pop it's head up and you smash them in the face with the padded hammer. 

What has that got to do with integrity? This is no ordinary hammer, it's the hammer of integrity! There are thousands of moments in our lives, both personal and professional, that will pop up and require a move from you. The lonely evenings in the office with the pretty receptionist who loves your jokes. The tax return that will just cost you too much to fill in honestly or the promotion that will only come with a few embellishments to your CV are the bugs popping up, what do you do? 

The hammer of integrity is what you do, you smash those worthless empty pits in the face with it, and guess what, you have to keep going because they pop up at any time, and completely unannounced! 

I have had things return to my life that I had thought were long in the past, they suddenly appeared and many times, caught me without the hammer! 

Here's the key to it all, the hammer of integrity in our lives is only as strong as our dependency on Jesus Christ. He must be our daily source of strength. As we yield this stuff to the Holy Spirit it loses its power over us, surrender it men, and let that hammer of integrity smash your enemies. 

QUESTIONS: 

• Take a minute to think about your integrity ... and be honest about where the fault lines are. 
• Now pray about it, trust each other and start to re-discover the difference a daily walk with Jesus can make. 
• What areas or arenas in your life need to be yielded to the Holy Spirit? 

PRAYER: 

Lord Jesus I need you, I need to be a man of integrity who fights a consistent battle and has strength not to lose sight of you. Keep me strong, focused on you, making me into the godly man I, and my family, need me to be. Amen