One day, a mother brought her young boy to an old man, and asked him to tell her boy how he was never to eat sugar again because of its harmful effects on his teeth and overall health. The old man didn’t say anything to the little boy that day. However, he asked the mother to bring the boy back again to him one month later. When she returned with her boy, the old man did what he was asked and told the boy to stay away from sugar. The mother became puzzled, and asked him why he had not said what she asked him to say at their first meeting. The old man answered that he too had been indulging himself with sugar, and he did not feel comfortable telling her son to stay away from it if he was also enjoying it himself.
What are some things you think about when someone asks you to define integrity? Some say it is honesty. Others say it has something to do with moral uprightness. Still others say it has to do with authenticity. What about you? What words will you add? Or take out? The word “integrity” is related to the Latin word “integer” (I knew it!). For all those of you math lovers out there, “integer” means wholeness. It is an integer, not a fraction. If integrity has something to do with wholeness, can we say that in some way a person of integrity is a whole person? Persons of integrity are complete by themselves. They don’t need to hide who they really are. They don’t have to do the things others expect them to do. They don’t have to say the things others expect them to say. What you see is what you get. But what exactly is integrity?
When you look for friends in your life, how important is it for you to look for people with integrity? Are you such a friend to others? Integrity is a good word, and all of us desire to have more and more of it. How do we get it? What is it? Most importantly, what does the Bible have to say about integrity? Let’s come and think together about integrity, hear what God has to say about it in the Book of Proverbs, and change. See you Sunday!
Your Friend,
Alvin
By the way, have you guessed what was the name of the old man?
Mahatma Gandhi.