The Seven Keys to Integrity

The story goes that in the times of the Romans, army held an inspection every morning. The soldiers lined up, and a centurion walked down the line, stopping in front of each legionnaire. As the centurion passed, each soldier raised his right hand and struck his chest, right in the middle, over his heart.

He struck that spot because the armor there had to be better than anywhere else. It protected his heart from javelins, swords and every other blow a battle could bring. And as each soldier hit his breastplate, he shouted one word: Integritas!

The centurion wasn't only watching. He was listening. Solid armor gave off a certain ring when it was struck, and that ring told him the armor was sound and in good repair. It told him the armor could take a heavy blow and hold.

We face a different enemy, but the principle is the same. It's the blows of Satan we have to worry about, and integrity is our armor. When we come to the darkest days of our lives and still do the right thing, our lives give off that same ring. Everyone around us hears it: This is a woman of integrity. This is a man of integrity.

This week, think of your integrity as armor that needs to be inspected, maintained and strengthened. And don't do it alone. Ask a few trusted friends to help you stay accountable as you build a life that can be trusted.

A Man Who Stood the Test

Of all the men and women in the Bible, perhaps no one demonstrates integrity more clearly than Job. Scripture introduces him this way: "There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil" (Job 1:1, ESV).

Job was upright, blameless and transparent before God. That description matters, because what came next would have shattered most people. In a short span of time Job lost his wealth, his children and his health. His friends accused him of hidden sin, and even his wife urged him to curse God and die. Every blow imaginable landed on his armor.

And it rang true.

Integrity is a fragile thing. Turning on God, compromising our faith, or letting go of honesty because it has become too hard are all sure ways to destroy it. So are greed, anger, dishonesty and incomplete obedience. Whenever we do less than the good, right and honest thing according to God's standards, our integrity is compromised. Job refused to take any of those shortcuts, even when he had every human reason to.

The Seven Keys

In Job 31, Job makes a moving defense of his life before God. "Let me be weighed in a just balance," he says, "and let God know my integrity!" (Job 31:6). In the course of that defense, he lays out seven requirements that together make up a life of integrity.

1. Integrity requires purity (Job 31:1). Job made "a covenant with [his] eyes." He would not let lust take root, because he knew that what we allow ourselves to look at shapes who we become.

2. Integrity requires honesty (Job 31:5-6). Job was willing to be put on trial for his honesty. He had no deceit to hide and no fear of being examined.

3. Integrity requires fidelity (Job 31:9). Job remained faithful to his wife. Integrity keeps its promises, especially the most important ones.

4. Integrity requires charity (Job 31:13). Job treated those who worked for him with fairness and listened when they had a complaint. How we treat people who have less power than we do reveals what our armor is really made of.

5. Integrity requires eternality (Job 31:24). Job didn't measure his life by the size of his flocks and herds or put his confidence in gold. He worked to make an impact in eternity.

6. Integrity requires sympathy (Job 31:29–32). Job didn't rejoice when his enemies fell, and his door was always open to the stranger and the traveler. A person of integrity has a heart that is soft toward others.

7. Integrity requires discovery (Job 31:33). Job had no skeletons in his closet. He didn't conceal his sins "as others do." There was nothing in his life he would be afraid to have discovered.

Strengthening the Armor

A Roman soldier didn't keep his armor in good shape by accident. It took daily care. The same is true for us, and the Bible gives us a clear picture of what that care looks like.

In 2 Chronicles 17, King Jehoshaphat of Judah "walked in the earlier ways of his father David" and "his heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord" (vv. 3, 6). His success came down to four things. He sought a relationship with God, which meant knowing what God said. He kept God's commandments, applying the Word to his own life. He delighted in God's ways, so that the Word became a necessity rather than just a habit. And he acted on the Word, sending teachers throughout Judah with the Book of the Law so that his whole community could be changed by it (vv. 7–9). That is how integrity is built and maintained: by staying close to God through His Word.

Don't Stand Inspection Alone

The legionnaire stood in a line of soldiers, not by himself. Integrity grows best in the same kind of company.

Proverbs 27 is full of wisdom about friendship. "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" (v. 17). "Faithful are the wounds of a friend" (v. 6). A true friend cares enough to tell us the truth, even when it stings. Those are exactly the kinds of friends we need when we're trying to live with integrity: people who will ask hard questions, notice when we drift and encourage us to keep going. Read through Proverbs 27 this week, pick out a couple of verses on friendship to memorize, and think about who in your life could be that kind of friend to you — and to whom you could be that kind of friend.

Faith in What You Know

Living with integrity often means taking a step without knowing exactly where it will lead. Telling the truth may cost you. Keeping a promise may be inconvenient. Doing the right thing may mean losing an opportunity.

Abraham understood that kind of step. In Genesis 12, God called him to leave his home for a land he had never seen. In Genesis 22, God asked him to offer up Isaac, the son of promise. We usually describe Abraham's faith by what he didn't know: where he was going, or why God was asking so much of him. But look at what Abraham did know. He knew God had spoken. He knew God had made promises. And he knew God would keep them — so confidently that he told his servants, "I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you" (Genesis 22:5).

Faith is trusting the God we know when we can't see what's ahead. When doing the right thing feels risky, remember that integrity rests on the character of a God who has never failed to keep His word.

Your Next Step

So how do you measure up on the seven keys to integrity? Purity, honesty, fidelity, charity, eternality, sympathy, discovery: take an honest look at each one. Most of us will find at least one area where our armor doesn't ring quite as true as it should.

If you're not sure where to begin, start by cleaning up the past. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Integrity doesn't mean we've never failed. It means we've stopped hiding our failures and have brought them to the One who can make us whole.

Once that first, all-important step is taken, ask God to help you with the next one. Integrity is one of those stepping stones that carries you all the way through life. And when people around you are trying to find their way across the treacherous streams of life, they'll know which stone to step on by watching a person of integrity go first.