Integrity
“In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” Albert Camus
There is an innate desire within each person to be united with something, not to be alone, but to belong. Yet to exact unity, humanity relies on man-made structures; political parties, religious affiliations, clubs, and clicks. The end desire for a feeling of belonging, dare I say, wholeness, is a deep-seated yearning among the species.
Yet somehow, within our worldly structures of human belonging, we mercilessly do nothing but divide. We divide ourselves from others and simultaneously live internally fractured lives. When was the last time you could describe yourself as “undivided”? What does it require of the soul to make that claim? What do we need to understand to live a life from a complete state of being?
Most of us live what I will call a compartmentalized life. We move from space to space, appointment to appointment, and commitment to commitment presenting ourselves (yes, I referred to us as more than one being) in the proper light for the proper event. It is not possible to take the home persona into the public square. We have reputations to maintain. We may have frustrations and behaviors tied to any one moment in life that we cannot carry to the next, so we compartmentalize.
Presenting the proper personality (mind, will, and emotions) that is correct and acceptable for success in any given situation. And yet, with all this work we do to present ourselves in proper posture, even at our most effective moment, we still, down deep, feel a sense of disconnect. We cannot achieve that illusive sound mind, that inner wholeness we must have.
We should introduce another word here…Integrity.
If asked, the average person would define this word as something like “doing the right thing no matter what.” While that definition holds, it is incomplete. According to Webster’s Dictionary, integrity is (1) firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values (incorruptibility); (2) an unimpaired condition (soundness); and (3) the quality or state of being complete or undivided (completeness).
Easton’s Bible Dictionary states:
“Man was created in the likeness of God as to the perfection of his nature, in knowledge (Col. 3:10), righteousness, and holiness (Eph. 4:24), and as having dominion over all the inferior creatures (Gen. 1:28). He had in his original state God’s law written on his heart, and had power to obey it, and yet was capable of disobeying, being left to the freedom of his own will. He was created with holy dispositions, prompting him to holy actions; but he was fallible, and did fall from his integrity (3:1–6).”
In the book of Psalms, David writes, “But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; redeem me and be gracious to me.” The word integrity here is the Hebrew word meaning basically to “come or bring to an end” to “be complete, whole.”
Please note here the heart of David’s cry and the statement of his intention. David’s intention is a sincerity of heart, to walk in integrity (seek wholeness, completeness) as he humbly comes before a Holy God with a fractured self and asks for grace in redemption.
This is the crossroads of Integrity with more “ity” word… IDENTITY.
Over coffee recently a friend asked, point blank, “I have a purpose…. don’t I?” That simple, loaded, weight-bearing question seeks the answer to our IDENTITY!
There was a television show called Prison Break, which aired beginning in 2005, about convicts breaking out of prison and their lives on the run. One colorful character named Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell, played by Robert Knepper, was a chameleon. His dark personality would shift to fit the situation he found himself in, sometimes charming and captivating, other times scary and dangerous. In one scene, he makes a somewhat self-revelatory comment, “We are captives of our own identities, living in prisons of our creation.”
We are each unique representatives of the image of God here in the earth. We have personality and intention wired within our very beings from our conception for the pure use and reflection of God’s redemptive plan for humanity. My friend asked to find the answer to that question related to the cry of David, “As For Me… I will walk in my integrity, receive God’s grace, and submit to God’s redemptive plan for my life”.
Seeking our Kingdom Identity requires the building of truth and tearing down lies.
Become who He created you to be. First, take a little advice from T-Bag and have a self-reckoning of which created identities have become prisons of your own making.