“Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.”
Proverbs 10:9
“Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.”
Proverbs 28:6
“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.”
Proverbs 11:3
Character is the internal code of an individual. Integrity is sticking to that code of conduct regardless of who is watching. There could be no one watching, but you still practice everything you preach.
You pick up the straw wrapper you dropped.
You take the shopping cart back.
On all your jobs you use your best effort and complete tasks to the best of your ability, even the ones you impose on yourself.
Even the small tasks around your home.
Do you clean the whole kitchen, or just the visible parts of it?
Do you dust around the picture frame or do you pick it up and clean the entire dresser?
Are all of your jobs done right?
These are the basic questions that give you a direct view into who you are as an individual. Are you the kind of person who takes shortcuts to avoid doing that little bit of extra work? Are you the type of person to use the phrase “good enough”? If you are that weak man, then today is the day you begin to cast off that old man of sloth and sluggishness. The Church has enough weak men already, you do not need to add yourself to their numbers.
You are the kind of man who does everything to the best of your ability.
It doesn’t matter who is watching. It does not matter if you have an audience of 50,000 people or if you are completely isolated. Integrity ensures that you are the same man in both situations. Integrity guarantees that you have consistent character over time, that your word has value, that you always follow through and do what you say you will do.
These philosophies are embedded within you. Like anything else, once you begin to apply these actions and disciplines consistently over time, they eventually become habit, and require no more willpower.
You take back that shopping cart without even thinking about it, it’s programmed into your character. Once programmed into character, it is there forever. That is the beauty of discipline and habits. You work hard to build them over long periods of life, then they are fit to stand the test of time for years to come. Don’t be discouraged by how long it takes to build the habit, because eventually you will be profiting from the compound interest of life.
Character takes a shopping cart back to the store. Integrity takes the cart back at night when it’s dark, no one can see you, and you were the only shopper.
Character picks up the trash it drops. Integrity picks up the trash even when no one saw who dropped it in the first place.
Have Character. Get Integrity. Be a Man.
Mantra
Even if no one sees me, I do what is right.
Application
The application is simple. Keep to your character even if you are alone. This is the way of men. There are few principles more foundational for building yourself as a man than these of integrity and character.
Time may take your health, your mind, your sight, your hearing and your wealth, but your character will last forever. Your character will continue to impact other people long after you are dead if you build it correctly. Start building integrity today, reap the benefits tomorrow.
Conduct Yourselves Like Men.
